Monte Carlo simulations are performed for the spin-\textonehalf{}
XY model in two dimensions for large (up to 24\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}24 sites) lattices. Results are obtained over a wide temperature range which includes the critical temperature
Tc, estimated to be 0.4-0.5. The energy, specific heat, vortex density, and derivative of the helicity modulus are given as functions of temperature. As the lattice size is increased, the specific heat per spin approaches a finite value and does not diverge.
We have performed Monte Carlo (MC) simulations on systems of L\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}L classical planar unit spins on square lattices, for L=6, 15, 30, 60, 90, and 200. The interaction between any two given spins S${\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}_{1}$ and S${\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}_{2}$ is given by -JS${\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}_{1}$\ensuremath{\cdot}S${\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}_{2}$ if
S1 and
S2 are nearest neighbors and vanishes otherwise. In order to make sure that our results correspond to equilibrium values, we have looked into the time-dependent properties of this model in the vicinity of critical temperature (
Tc). We have found that the diffusion constant for vortex motion is given at
Tc by D\ensuremath{\simeq}0.2 (in units of nearest-neighbor distance squared per MC step per spin). The values of the relaxation times follow from the value of D. Our computer running times were typically
105 MC steps per spin, larger than any relaxation time for the system sizes we deal with. We use a procedure based on finite-size scaling to establish the value of
Tc=0.89J/
kB, the value of \ensuremath{\nu}=0.5\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.1, and the value of ${\ensuremath{\eta}}_{c}$=0.24\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.03, in agreement with the values predicted by the Kosterlitz-Thouless theory.
A Monte Carlo simulation of the helicity modulus and the specific heat of the classical
XY model in two dimensions is presented. In particular, we have investigated the dependence of these quantities with the size of the Monte Carlo sample. The height of the specific-heat peak is found to saturate as the infinite-volume limit is approached. The peak height of the derivative of the helicity modulus is found to grow rapidly with the increase in the size of the system and is located only 7% below the temperature at which the specific heat has the maximum.
We have investigated the first-order transition in the classical two-dimensional (2D) extended XY-spin model using Monte Carlo simulations. The simulations have been carried out on a system with 100 spins in the microcanonical ensemble, which represents a finite-isolated system. The energy as a function of temperature is found to exhibit a 'S'-shape at the first-order transition. We conclude that the observed phenomena at the first-order transition should be interpreted as the equilibrium response of a finite-isolated system.
Two-dimensional generalized XY spin model on a triangular lattice is studied by means of Monte-Carlo simulations. The critical temperatures of Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) phase transition are obtained by the method of helicity modulus. It is found that the results are consistent with those obtained by other methods. The vortex density and the vortex-antivortex pair formation energy are also obtained. The result shows that the critical temperature decreases with the increase of the generalization parameter q . While the vortex-antivortex pair formation energy increases with the increase of q when q>1 .
We report Monte Carlo simulations of Villain's periodic Gaussian XY model on
L2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}N lattices of film geometry (L\ensuremath{\gg}N) with up to N=16 layers, employing the single-cluster update algorithm combined with improved estimators for measurements. The boundary conditions are periodic within each layer and free at the bottom and top layer. Based on data for the specific heat, the spin-spin correlation function, and the susceptibility in the high-temperature phase we study the crossover from three- to two-dimensional behavior as criticality is approached. For the transition temperatures, determined from Kosterlitz-Thouless fits to the correlation length and susceptibility, we observe a pronounced scaling behavior with N. The associated critical exponent, however, deviates from theoretical expectations. More qualitatively, we further discuss the distribution and shapes of vortex loops in the crossover region.