Physical review. B, Condensed matter
Monte Carlo analysis of the two-dimensionalXYmodel. I. Self-consistent boundary conditions
Peter Olsson
Abstract
A finite-size effect in the two-dimensional XY model is analytically obtained in the low-temperature limit. It is then shown that the sign of this effect may be changed by generalizing the boundary conditions to include twists over the system, and also that the finite-size effect may be entirely eliminated by adjusting the amplitude of these twists. At finite temperatures, up to ${\mathit{T}}_{\mathit{c}}$, the finite-size effect is shown to be virtually eliminated through the application of a self-consistent condition for the twist amplitude. This self-consistent condition is given a simple motivation. The use of the dielectric function from Monte Carlo simulations on the two-dimensional Coulomb gas is also critically discussed.