The phase of spins in the quasi-two-dimensional (q2D) XY model has emerged as a topic of significant interest across multiple subfields of physics. Conventional wisdom, rooted in the Mermin-Wagner theorem and supported by existing paradigms, asserts that true long-range (LR) order is prohibited in q2D systems with continuous symmetries and short-range (SR) interactions. In this Letter, we propose a strictly SR q2D XY model defined on a plane perpendicularly intersected by a group of parallel planes, where each plane consists of XY spins coupled via nearest-neighbor interactions. Through large-scale Monte Carlo simulations complemented by finite-size scaling analysis, we establish the complete phase diagram of the setup. A LR ordered phase emerges in the q2D model when the spins on the parallel planes develop a Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless critical phase. The LR ordered phase is anisotropic: true LR correlations develop exclusively along the direction of the intersection lines, while the perpendicular direction exhibits quasi-long-range order. Furthermore, the LR order exhibits Goldstone-mode physics. Our findings reveal a mechanism for stabilizing LR order in low-dimensional systems with continuous symmetries, thereby establishing a new platform for studying exotic superfluidity.
The phase of spins in the quasi-two-dimensional (q2D) XY model has emerged as a topic of significant interest across multiple subfields of physics. Conventional wisdom, rooted in the Mermin-Wagner theorem and supported by existing paradigms, asserts that true long-range (LR) order is prohibited in q2D systems with continuous symmetries and short-range (SR) interactions. In this Letter, we propose a strictly SR q2D XY model defined on a plane perpendicularly intersected by a group of parallel planes, where each plane consists of XY spins coupled via nearest-neighbor interactions. Through large-scale Monte Carlo simulations complemented by finite-size scaling analysis, we establish the complete phase diagram of the setup. A LR ordered phase emerges in the q2D model when the spins on the parallel planes develop a Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless critical phase. The LR ordered phase is anisotropic: true LR correlations develop exclusively along the direction of the intersection lines, while the perpendicular direction exhibits quasi-long-range order. Furthermore, the LR order exhibits Goldstone-mode physics. Our findings reveal a mechanism for stabilizing LR order in low-dimensional systems with continuous symmetries, thereby establishing a new platform for studying exotic superfluidity.
Abstract The crossover between short-range and long-range (LR) universal behaviors remains a central theme in the physics of LR interacting systems. The competition between LR coupling and the Berezinskii–Kosterlitz–Thouless mechanism makes the problem more subtle and less understood in the two-dimensional (2D) XY model, a cornerstone for investigating low-dimensional phenomena and their implications in quantum computation. We study the 2D XY model with algebraically decaying interaction ∼1/r 2+σ . Utilizing an advanced update strategy, we conduct LR Monte Carlo simulations of the model up to a linear size of L = 8192. Our results demonstrate continuous phase transitions into a ferromagnetic phase for σ < 2, which exhibit the simultaneous emergence of a long-ranged order and a power-law decaying correlation function due to the Goldstone mode. Furthermore, we find logarithmic scaling behaviors in the low-temperature phase at σ = 2. The observed scaling behaviors in the low-temperature phase for σ ≤ 2 agree with our theoretical analysis. Our findings request further theoretical understanding and can be of practical application in cutting-edge experiments like Rydberg atom arrays.
Logarithmic Quasi-Long-Range Order and Novel Continuous Phase Transition in the Two-Dimensional XY Model with 1/r4 Interaction
We investigate the phase diagram and critical properties of the two-dimensional classical XY model with interactions decaying as 1/r2+σ. At the marginal case σ=2, we show that the low-temperature phase is characterized by logarithmic quasi-long-range order (log-QLRO), where spin correlations decay as a power of the logarithm of distance, C(r)∼(lnr)−ηℓ with ηℓ∝T, and that the transition into this phase is a continuous transition beyond both the Ginzburg-Landau-Wilson paradigm and the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless mechanism. Our analysis combines a near-exact Gaussian spin-wave theory, an adiabatic renormalization-group analysis, and large-scale Monte Carlo simulations. We find that the 1/r4 interaction logarithmically modifies the spin-wave stiffness kernel as γ(k)≃κk2ln(1/k), which suppresses vortex proliferation and gives rise to a nonuniversal correlation-length exponent ν∝1/2πκ. Crucially, our simulations reveal that the short-range algebraic QLRO phase is unstable against a weak long-range perturbation for σ≤2. These results establish σ=2 as the crossover boundary between the long-range and short-range universality classes and provide a critical evaluation of recent theoretical proposals.
Algebraically decaying interactions ∼1/rd+σ can lead to nontrivial universality beyond short-range (SR) theories and spontaneous symmetry breaking in low-dimensional systems. We perform large-scale Monte Carlo simulations for the classical long-range (LR) Heisenberg model in two dimensions (2D) up to linear size L=8192. We show that the system enters a long-range-ordered phase through a single continuous phase transition for all σ≤2, including the marginal case σ=2. In contrast, for σ>2 it recovers the SR asymptotically free behavior with no finite-temperature transition. This places the LR--SR crossover threshold at σ∗=2. To characterize the ordered phase, we introduce an LR simple random walk with a fixed total length L∼O(Ld). This fixed-L walk reproduces the finite-size scaling of the Goldstone-mode fluctuations in the LR Heisenberg model in both two and three dimensions, including the logarithmic scaling at σ=2. These results further motivate a general criterion for the existence of finite-temperature long-range order in LR systems with continuous symmetry in any spatial dimension.
The two-dimensional (2D) XY model plays a crucial role in statistical and condensed-matter physics. With the introduction of long-range interactions, the system exhibits a richer set of physical phenomena and a crossover between nonclassical and short-range universality classes. In this work, we investigate the 2D XY model with algebraically decaying interactions $\ensuremath{\sim}1/{r}^{2+\ensuremath{\sigma}}$ and provide a comprehensive numerical analysis of its thermodynamic properties. We demonstrate that for $\ensuremath{\sigma}\ensuremath{\le}2$, the system undergoes a second-order phase transition into a ferromagnetic phase characterized by the emergence of long-range order. In the low-temperature phase, due to the presence of the Goldstone mode, the correlation function saturates to a nonzero constant in the form of a power law for $\ensuremath{\sigma}<2$, with decaying exponent $2\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\sigma}$, and in the form of the inverse logarithm of distance for $\ensuremath{\sigma}=2$. Moreover, the critical points and exponents are also determined for various $\ensuremath{\sigma}$. We provide compelling evidence that the crossover between nonclassical and short-range regimes occurs at $\ensuremath{\sigma}=2$. This work presents a detailed account of the simulation methodology, extensive numerical data, and new insights into the physics of long-range interacting systems.
The critical behavior of statistical models with long-range interactions exhibits distinct regimes as a function of $\ensuremath{\rho}$, the power of the interaction strength decay. For large enough $\ensuremath{\rho}, \ensuremath{\rho}>{\ensuremath{\rho}}_{\mathrm{sr}}$, the critical behavior is observed to coincide with that of the short-range model. However, there are controversial aspects regarding this picture, one of which is the value of the short-range threshold ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{\mathrm{sr}}$ in the case of the long-range XY model in two dimensions. We study the 2D XY model on the diluted graph, a sparse graph obtained from the 2D lattice by rewiring links with probability decaying with the Euclidean distance of the lattice as ${|r|}^{\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\rho}}$, which is expected to feature the same critical behavior of the long-range model. Through Monte Carlo sampling and finite-size analysis of the spontaneous magnetization and of the Binder cumulant, we present numerical evidence that ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{\mathrm{sr}}=4$. According to such a result, one expects the model to belong to the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless universality class for $\ensuremath{\rho}\ensuremath{\ge}4$, and to present a second-order transition for $\ensuremath{\rho}<4$.
In the past decades, considerable efforts have been made to understand the critical features of both classical and quantum long-range (LR) interacting models. The case of the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) universality class, as in the two-dimensional (2D) classical XY model, is considerably complicated by the presence, for short-range interactions, of a line of renormalization group fixed points. In this paper, we discuss a field-theoretical treatment of the 2D XY model with LR couplings, and we compare it with results from the self-consistent harmonic approximation. These methods lead to a rich phase diagram, where both power law BKT scaling and spontaneous symmetry breaking appear for the same (intermediate) decay rates of LR interactions. We also discuss the Villain approximation for the 2D XY model with power law couplings, providing hints that, in the LR regime, it fails to reproduce the correct critical behavior. The obtained results are then applied to the LR quantum XXZ spin chain at zero temperature. We discuss the relation between the phase diagrams of the two models, and we give predictions about the scaling of the order parameter of the quantum chain close to the transition.