Two-sublattice Ising mean-field approximation ($M_B=\tanh \beta (h+g-qJ{M}_W)$)

On a regular bipartite graph with coordination number $q$, replace each bond product by ${\sigma }_B{\sigma }_W\simeq M_W{\sigma }_B+M_B{\sigma }_W-M_B{M}_W$. For $N$ sites there are $Nq/2$ bonds, so the constant in the effective Hamiltonian is $-NqJ{M}_B{M}_W/2$. The mean-field self-consistency equations are $M_B=\tanh \beta (h+g-qJ{M}_W)$ and $M_W=\tanh \beta (h-g-qJ{M}_B)$. At zero fields the antisymmetric branch has a continuous mean-field Ising critical bifurcation at $k_B{T}_c=qJ$.

On the stable zero-field branch $M_B=-M_W=M$, put $a=\beta (1-M^2)$. Differentiating the two-sublattice Ising mean-field approximation with respect to the uniform field gives ${\chi }_B=a(1-qJ{\chi }_W)$ and ${\chi }_W=a(1-qJ{\chi }_B)$. Thus ${\chi }_{+}=a/(1+qJa)$ and $\partial M_{-}/\partial h=0$. The true staggered magnetic susceptibility, $\partial M_{-}/\partial g=a/(1-qJa)$, is a different response and diverges at the continuous transition. The factor $1-M^2$ is essential: the uniform response vanishes when the spins saturate at zero temperature.

Here $s(m)=\frac{1+m}{2}\ln \frac{1+m}{2}+\frac{1-m}{2}\ln \frac{1-m}{2}$. This free-energy density is the energy minus temperature times entropy of independent sublattice Ising spins. Since $s^{\prime }(m)=\mathrm{atanh}m$, stationarity yields the two-sublattice Ising mean-field approximation. Writing $M_{\pm }=(M_B\pm M_W)/2$, the quadratic coefficients are $(k_{B}T+qJ)/2$ for $M_{+}^2$ and $(k_{B}T-qJ)/2$ for $M_{-}^2$. The positive quartic coefficient $k_{B}T/12$ in the staggered direction stabilizes the continuous transition. Unlike a log-cosh auxiliary potential, this variational expression can be minimized away from self-consistency.