In typical one-dimensional models the Mermin-Wagner theorem forbids long range order, thus preventing finite-temperature phase transitions. We find a finite-temperature phase transition for a homogeneous system of attractive bosons in one dimension. The low-temperature phase is characterized by a quantum bright soliton without long range order; the high-temperature phase is a free gas. Numerical calculations for finite particle numbers show a specific heat scaling as
N2, consistent with a vanishing transition region in the thermodynamic limit.
We study the q-state Potts model on the simple cubic lattice with ferromagnetic interactions along one lattice direction, and antiferromagnetic interactions along the two other directions. As the temperature T decreases, the system undergoes a second-order phase transition that fits in the universality class of the 3D O(n) model with n=q-1. This conclusion is based on the estimated critical exponents, and histograms of the order parameter. At even smaller T we find, for q=4 and 5, a first-order transition to a phase with a different type of long-range order. This long-range order dissolves at T=0, and the system effectively reduces to a disordered two-dimensional Potts antiferromagnet. These results are obtained by means of Monte Carlo simulations and finite-size scaling.
Abstract As the spatial dimensionality
d decreases, fluctuations become larger and the stability of the low-temperature ordered state deteriorates. The dimensionality where long-range order disappears is known as lower critical dimension. For instance, the Ising model in one dimension does not display long-range order at finite temperatures, however in two dimensions Peierls argument explains why the same model has an ordered phase below a certain critical temperature. If the basic variables and symmetries are continuous as in the
XY and Heisenberg models, the (long-range) ordered state at any finite temperature disappears already in two dimensions. This is the result of Mermin-Wagner's theorem. The
XY model nevertheless undergoes an unusual phase transition without an onset of long-range order in two dimensions, which is known as the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition. Gauge or local symmetries cannot spontaneously be broken as elucidated by Elitzur's theorem when applied to lattice gauge theories.