We give a new simple derivation for the sine-Gordon description of Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless(BKT) phase transition (is driven by vortices). Our derivation is simpler than traditional derivations. Besides, our derivation is a continuous field theoretic derivation by using path integration, different from the traditional derivations which are based on lattice theory or based on Coulomb gas model. Our new derivation rely on Abelian duality of two dimensional quantum field theory. By utilizing this duality in path integration, we find that the vortex configurations are naturally mapped to exponential operators in dual description, these operators are the vortex operators that can create vortices, the sine-Gordon description then naturally follows. Our method may be useful for the investigation to the BKT physics of superconductors.
We give a new simple derivation for the sine-Gordon description of Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless(BKT) phase transition (is driven by vortices). Our derivation is simpler than traditional derivations. Besides, our derivation is a continuous field theoretic derivation by using path integration, different from the traditional derivations which are based on lattice theory or based on Coulomb gas model. Our new derivation rely on Abelian duality of two dimensional quantum field theory. By utilizing this duality in path integration, we find that the vortex configurations are naturally mapped to exponential operators in dual description, these operators are the vortex operators that can create vortices, the sine-Gordon description then naturally follows. Our method may be useful for the investigation to the BKT physics of superconductors.
A number of two-dimensional (2D) critical phenomena can be described in terms of the 2D sine-Gordon model. With bosonization, several 1D quantum systems can be transformed to the same model. However, the transition of the 2D sine-Gordon model, the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition, is essentially different from a second-order transition. The divergence of the correlation length is more rapid than any power law, and there are logarithmic corrections. These pathological features make it difficult to determine the BKT transition point and critical indices from finite-size calculations. In this paper we calculate correlation functions of this model using a real-space renormalization technique. It is found that several correlation functions, or eigenvalues of the corresponding transfer matrix for a finite system, become degenerate on the BKT line, including the logarithmic corrections. By the use of this degeneracy, which reflects the hidden SU(2) symmetry on the BKT line, it is possible to determine the BKT critical line with high precision from a small amount of data and to identify the universality class. In addition, new universal relations are found. These results shed light on the relation between Abelian and non-Abelian bosonization.
The Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition is the prototype of a phase transition driven by the formation and interaction of topological defects in two-dimensional (2D) systems. In typical models these are vortices: above a transition temperature TBKT vortices are free, below this transition temperature they get confined. In this work we extend the concept of BKT transition to quantum systems in two dimensions. In particular, we demonstrate that a zero-temperature quantum BKT phase transition, driven by a coupling constant can occur in 2D models governed by an effective gauge field theory with a diverging dielectric constant. One particular example is that of a compact U(1) gauge theory with a diverging dielectric constant, where the quantum BKT transition is induced by non-relativistic, purely 2D magnetic monopoles, which can be viewed also as electric vortices. These quantum BKT transitions have the same diverging exponent z as the quantum Griffiths transition but have nothing to do with disorder.
In this chapter, I will briefly review, from my own perspective, the situation within theoretical physics at the beginning of the 1970s, and the advances that played an important role in providing a solid theoretical and experimental foundation for the Berezinskii–Kosterlitz–Thouless theory (BKT). Over this period, it became clear that the Abelian gauge symmetry of the 2D-XY model had to be preserved to get the right phase structure of the model. In previous analyses, this symmetry was broken when using low order calculational approximations. Duality transformations at that time for two-dimensional models with compact gauge symmetries were introduced by José, Kadanoff, Nelson and Kirkpatrick (JKKN). Their goal was to analyze the phase structure and excitations of XY and related models, including symmetry breaking fields which are experimentally important. In a separate context, Migdal had earlier developed an approximate Renormalization Group (RG) algorithm to implement Wilson’s RG for lattice gauge theories. Although Migdal’s RG approach, later extended by Kadanoff, did not produce a true phase transition for the XY model, it almost did asymptotically in terms of a non-perturbative expansion in the coupling constant with an essential singularity. Using these advances, including work done on instantons (vortices), JKKN analyzed the behavior of the spin–spin correlation functions of the 2D XY-model in terms of an expansion in temperature and vortex-pair fugacity. Their analysis led to a perturbative derivation of RG equations for the XY model which are the same as those first derived by Kosterlitz for the two-dimensional Coulomb gas. JKKN’s results gave a theoretical formulation foundation and justification for BKT’s sound physical assumptions and for the validity of their calculational approximations that were, in principle, strictly valid only at very low temperatures, away from the critical [Formula: see text] temperature. The theoretical predictions were soon tested successfully against experimental results on superfluid helium films. The success of the BKT theory also gave one of the first quantitative proofs of the validity of the RG theory.
The Berezinskii–Kosterlitz–Thouless (BKT) transition is the prototype of a phase transition driven by the formation and interaction of topological defects in two-dimensional (2D) systems. In typical models, these are vortices: above a transition temperature TBKT, vortices are free; below this transition temperature, they get confined. In this work, we extend the concept of BKT transition to quantum systems in two dimensions. In particular, we demonstrate that a zero-temperature quantum BKT phase transition driven by a coupling constant can occur in 2D models governed by an effective gauge field theory with a diverging dielectric constant. One particular example is that of a compact U(1) gauge theory with a diverging dielectric constant, where the quantum BKT transition is induced by non-relativistic, purely 2D magnetic monopoles, which can be viewed also as electric vortices. These quantum BKT transitions have the same diverging exponent z as the quantum Griffiths transition but are not related to disorder.
The Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) phase transition drives the unbinding of topological defects in many two-dimensional systems. In the two-dimensional Coulomb gas, it corresponds to an insulator-conductor transition driven by charge deconfinement. We investigate the global topological properties of this transition, both analytically and by numerical simulation, using a lattice-field description of the two-dimensional Coulomb gas on a torus. The BKT transition is shown to be an ergodicity breaking between the topological sectors of the electric field, which implies a definition of topological order in terms of broken ergodicity. The breakdown of local topological order at the BKT transition leads to the excitation of global topological defects in the electric field, corresponding to different topological sectors. The quantized nature of these classical excitations, and their strict suppression by ergodicity breaking in the low-temperature phase, afford striking global signatures of topological-sector fluctuations at the BKT transition. We discuss how these signatures could be detected in experiments on, for example, magnetic films and cold-atom systems.
The Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) phase transition is considered in the condition of lowest temperatures, when thermal fluctuations give place to quantum ones. For this goal, the critical dynamic of the Sine-Gordon model near the quantum critical point is considered. The approach based on the Keldysh-Schwinger technique of non-equilibrium dynamics description is used, as well as the method of taking into account the crossover from the thermal fluctuation regime to the quantum one in the renormalization group technique. For the system with low vortex concentration, it is shown that the BKT transition unavoidably occurs at a temperature above the crossover temperature from the thermal fluctuation regime to quantum one. As a result at small temperatures the critical exponent of the BKT transition, η=1/4, remains unchanged, however, the universal relation of the superfluid density jump adjusts a little from the well-known relation by Nelson and Kosterlitz.