Probing Vortex Unbinding via Dipole Fluctuations

We develop a numerical method for detecting a vortex unbinding transition in a two-dimensional system by measuring large scale fluctuations in the total vortex dipole moment ${\vec P}$ of the system. These are characterized by a quantity $\cal F$ which measures the number of configurations in a simulation for which the either $P_x$ or $P_y$ is half the system size. It is shown that $\cal F$ tends to a non-vanishing constant for large system sizes in the unbound phase, and vanishes in the bound phase. The method is applied to the XY model both in the absence and presence of a magnetic field. In the latter case, the system size dependence of $\cal F$ suggests that there exist three distinct phases, one unbound vortex phase, a logarithmically bound phase, and a linearly bound phase.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure

Defect fugacity, Spinwave Stiffness and T_c of the 2-d Planar Rotor Model

We obtain precise values for the fugacities of vortices in the 2-d planar rotor model from Monte Carlo simulations in the sector with {\em no} vortices. The bare spinwave stiffness is also calculated and shown to have significant anharmonicity. Using these as inputs in the KT recursion relations, we predict the temperature T_c = 0.925, using linearised equations, and $T_c = 0.899 \pm >.005$ using next higher order corrections, at which vortex unbinding commences in the unconstrained system. The latter value, being in excellent agreement with all recent determinations of T_c, demonstrates that our method 1) constitutes a stringent measure of the relevance of higher order terms in KT theory and 2) can be used to obtain transition temperatures in similar systems with modest computational effort.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

A Renormalization Group Analysis of Coupled Superconducting and Stripe Order in 1+1 Dimensions

In this paper we perform a renormalization group analysis on the 1+1 dimensional version of an effective field theory (previously proposed by Dung-Hai Lee, cond-mat/011393) describing (quantum) fluctuating stripe and superconductor orders. We find four possible phases corresponding to stripe order/disorder combined with superconducting order/disorder.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, revte

Correlations in the low-temperature phase of the two-dimensional XY model

Monte Carlo simulations of the two-dimensional XY model are performed in a square geometry with fixed boundary conditions. Using a conformal mapping it is very easy to deduce the exponent eta_sigma(T) of the order parameter correlation function at any temperature in the critical phase of the model. The temperature behaviour of eta_sigma(T) is obtained numerically with a good accuracy up to the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition temperature. At very low temperatures, a good agreement is found with Berezinskii's harmonic approximation. Surprisingly, we show some evidence that there are no logarithmic corrections to the behaviour of the order parameter density profile (with symmetry breaking surface fields) at the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition temperature.Comment: 7 pages, 2 eps figure

The two dimensional XY model at the transition temperature: A high precision Monte Carlo study

We study the classical XY (plane rotator) model at the Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition. We simulate the model using the single cluster algorithm on square lattices of a linear size up to L=2048.We derive the finite size behaviour of the second moment correlation length over the lattice size xi_{2nd}/L at the transition temperature. This new prediction and the analogous one for the helicity modulus are confronted with our Monte Carlo data. This way beta_{KT}=1.1199 is confirmed as inverse transition temperature. Finally we address the puzzle of logarithmic corrections of the magnetic susceptibility chi at the transition temperature.Comment: Monte Carlo results for xi/L in table 1 and 2 corrected. Due to a programming error,these numbers were wrong by about a factor 1+1/L^2. Correspondingly the fits with L_min=64 and 128 given in table 5 and 6 are changed by little.The central results of the paper are not affected. Wrong sign in eq.(52) corrected. Appendix extende

Direct Evidence of the Discontinuous Character of the Kosterlitz-Thouless Jump

It is numerically shown that the discontinuous character of the helicity modulus of the two-dimensional XY model at the Kosterlitz-Thouless (KT) transition can be directly related to a higher order derivative of the free energy without presuming any {\it a priori} knowledge of the nature of the transition. It is also suggested that this higher order derivative is of intrinsic interest in that it gives an additional characteristics of the KT transition which might be associated with a universal number akin to the universal value of the helicity modulus at the critical temperature.Comment: 4 pages, to appear in PR

Density-functional fidelity approach to quantum phase transitions

We propose a new approach to quantum phase transitions in terms of the density-functional fidelity, which measures the similarity between density distributions of two ground states in parameter space. The key feature of the approach, as we will show, is that the density-functional fidelity can be measured easily in experiments. Both the validity and versatility of the approach are checked by the Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick model and the one-dimensional Hubbard model.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Chin. Phys. Let