Stiffness from Disorder in Triangular-Lattice Ising Thin Films

Abstract

We study the triangular lattice Ising model with a finite number of vertically stacked layers and demonstrate a low temperature reentrance of two Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transitions, which results in an extended disordered regime down to $T=0$. Numerical results are complemented with the derivation of an effective low-temperature dimer theory. Contrary to order by disorder, we present a new scenario for fluctuation-induced ordering in frustrated spin systems. While short-range spin-spin correlations are enhanced by fluctuations, quasi-long-range ordering is precluded at low enough temperatures by proliferation of topological defects.

8 pages, 8 figures; version 3; Replacement of "Reentrant Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless Transition in a Triangular Ising Thin Film" (http://arxiv.org/abs/1310.3468v2); published in Phys. Rev. Lett

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• Interacting classical dimers on the square lattice
• Classical dimers with aligning interactions on the square lattice
• Quantum criticality, lines of fixed points, and phase separation in doped two-dimensional quantum dimer models
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• Two-dimensional anisotropic Heisenberg antiferromagnet in a field
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• Emergent O(n) Symmetry in a series of three-dimensional Potts Models
• Emergent Power-Law Phase in the 2D Heisenberg Windmill Antiferromagnet: A Computational Experiment
• Chiral Spin Liquids at Finite Temperature in a Three-Dimensional Kitaev Model
• Ordering phenomena in a heterostructure of frustrated and unfrustrated triangular-lattice Ising layers
• Magnetic field-induced deformation of the spin-density wave microphases in Ca${}_3$Co${}_2$O${}_6$
• Overlap of two topological phases in the antiferromagnetic Potts model
• Incommensurate Short-Range Order in $S=1$ Triangular Lattice Ising Antiferromagnet