Vortex Deconfinement in the XY Model with a Magnetic Field

Abstract

We study vortex unbinding for the classical two-dimensional XY model in a magnetic field on square and triangular lattices. A renormalization group analysis combined with duality in the model shows that at high temperature and high field, the vortices unbind as the magnetic field is lowered in a two-step process: strings of overturned spins first proliferate and then vortices unbind. The transitions are highly continuous but are not of the Kosterlitz-Thouless type. The unbound vortex fixed point is shown to inherit properties of the underlying lattice, in particular containing a set of nodal lines that reflect the lattice symmetry.

RevTex, 2 column format. 13 figures

References in corpus (5)

• Quantum Theory of the Smectic Metal State in Stripe Phases
• Ring exchange, the Bose metal, and bosonization in two dimensions
• Stability of the Smectic Quantum Hall State: A Quantitative Study
• Deconfinement in the Two Dimensional XY Model
• Probing Vortex Unbinding via Dipole Fluctuations

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• Deconfinement and phase diagram of bosons in a linear optical lattice with a particle reservoir