Besides the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition, the two-dimensional generalized XY model, identified by a generalization parameter
q (as proposed by Romano and Zagrebnov), can also support a first-order phase transition, starting from a critical value
qc. However, the value of
qc at which this transition takes place is unknown. In this paper, we take two approaches to accurately determine the critical parameter
qc. Furthermore, we show that the model is characterized by three distinct regions concerning both first-order and Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transitions. Finally, the underlying mechanism governing such transitions is presented, along with an estimation of the critical temperatures.
Recently we showed that the critical nonequilibrium relaxation in the Swendsen-Wang algorithm is widely described by the stretched-exponential relaxation of physical quantities in the Ising or Heisenberg models. Here we make a similar analysis in the Berezinsky-Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition in the two-dimensional (2D) XY model and in the first-order phase transition in the 2D q=5 Potts model and find that these phase transitions are described by the simple exponential relaxation and power-law relaxation of physical quantities, respectively. We compare the relaxation behaviors of these phase transitions with those of the second-order phase transition in the three- and four-dimensional XY models and in the 2D q-state Potts models for 2≤q≤4 and show that the species of phase transitions can be clearly characterized by the present analysis. We also compare the size dependence of relaxation behaviors of the first-order phase transition in the 2D q=5 and 6 Potts models and propose a quantitative criterion on "weakness" of the first-order phase transition.