On the Theory of Superfluidity in Two Dimensions

Abstract

The superfluid phase transition of the general vortex gas, in which the circulations may be any non-zero integer, is studied. When the net circulation of the system is not zero the absence of a superfluid phase is shown. When the net circulation of the vortices vanishes, the presence of off-diagonal long range order is demonstrated and the existence of an order parameter is proposed. The transition temperature for the general vortex gas is shown to be the Kosterlitz---Thouless temperature. An upper bound for the average vortex number density is established for the general vortex gas and an exact expression is derived for the Kosterlitz---Thouless ensemble.Comment: 22 pages, one figure, written in plain TeX, published in J. Phys. A24 (1991) 502