We propose spin models that can display an arbitrary number of phase transitions. The models are based on the standard XY model, which is generalized by including higher-order nematic terms with exponentially increasing order and linearly increasing interaction strength. By employing Monte Carlo simulation we demonstrate that under certain conditions the number of phase transitions in such models is equal to the number of terms in the generalized Hamiltonian and, thus, it can be predetermined by construction. The proposed models produce the desirable number of phase transitions by solely varying the temperature. With decreasing temperature the system passes through a sequence of different phases with gradually decreasing symmetries. The corresponding phase transitions start with a presumably BKT transition that breaks the U(1) symmetry of the paramagnetic phase, and they proceed through a sequence of discrete Z2 symmetry-breaking transitions between different nematic phases down to the lowest-temperature ferromagnetic phase.
We propose spin models that can display an arbitrary number of phase transitions. The models are based on the standard XY model, which is generalized by including higher-order nematic terms with exponentially increasing order and linearly increasing interaction strength. By employing Monte Carlo simulation we demonstrate that under certain conditions the number of phase transitions in such models is equal to the number of terms in the generalized Hamiltonian and, thus, it can be predetermined by construction. The proposed models produce the desirable number of phase transitions by solely varying the temperature. With decreasing temperature the system passes through a sequence of different phases with gradually decreasing symmetries. The corresponding phase transitions start with a presumably BKT transition that breaks the U(1) symmetry of the paramagnetic phase, and they proceed through a sequence of discrete Z2 symmetry-breaking transitions between different nematic phases down to the lowest-temperature ferromagnetic phase.
We propose generalized variants of the XY model capable of exhibiting an arbitrary number of phase transitions only by varying temperature. They are constructed by supplementing the magnetic coupling with n_{t}-1 nematic terms of exponentially increasing order with the base q=2,3,4, and 5, and increasing interaction strength. It is found that for q=2,3, and 4 with sufficiently large coupling strength of the final term, the models exhibit a number of phase transitions equal to the number of the terms in the generalized Hamiltonian. Starting from the paramagnetic phase, the system transitions through the cascade of n_{t}-1 nematic phases of the orders q^{k}, k=n_{t}-1,n_{t}-2,⋯,1, that are characterized by q^{k} preferential spin directions symmetrically disposed around the circle, to the ferromagnetic (FM) phase at the lowest temperatures. Besides the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition from the paramagnetic phase, all the remaining transitions have a non-BKT nature: depending on the value of q they belong to either the Ising (q=2 and 4) or the three-state Potts (q=3) universality class. For q=5, due to the interplay between different terms, the phase transitions between the ordered phases observed for q<5 split into two, and the number of the ordered phases increases to 2n_{t}-1. These phases are characterized by a domain structure with the gradually increasing short-range FM ordering within domains that extends to different kinds of FM ordering in the last two low-temperature phases. The respective transitions do not seem to obey any universality.
A generalisation of the two-dimensional XY model is studied using Monte Carlo simulation. In this model, two-component classical spins interact both ferromagnetically and nematically. Three phases occur as temperature and the two interaction strengths are varied: a high-temperature, disordered phase, and two low-temperature phases with algebraic correlations in, respectively, the ferromagnetic and nematic order parameters. The critical behaviour at the phase boundaries is examined: the high-temperature phase is entered via Kosterlitz-Thouless transitions, whilst the low-temperature phases are separated by an Ising transition.
The q-state clock model, sometimes called the discrete XY model, is known to show a second-order (symmetry-breaking) phase transition in two dimensions for q≤4 (q=2 corresponds to the Ising model). On the other hand, the q→∞ limit of the model corresponds to the XY model, which shows the infinite order (non-symmetry-breaking) Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) phase transition in two dimensions. Interestingly, the two-dimensional clock model with q≥5 is predicted to show three different phases and two associated phase transitions. There are varying opinions about the actual characters of phases and the associated transitions. In this work, we develop the basic and higher-order mean-field (MF) theories to study the q-state clock model systematically. Our MF calculations reaffirm that, for large q, there are three phases: (broken) Z_{q} symmetric ferromagnetic phase at the low temperature, emergent U(1) symmetric BKT phase at the intermediate temperature, and paramagnetic (disordered) phase at the high temperature. The phase transition at the higher temperature is found to be of the BKT type, and the other transition at the lower temperature is argued to be a large-order spontaneous symmetry-breaking type (the largeness of transition order yields the possibility of having some of the numerical characteristics of a BKT transition). The higher-order MF theory developed here better characterizes phases by estimating the spin-spin correlation between two neighbors.
Critical properties of the two-dimensional XY model involving solely nematic-like terms of the second and third orders are investigated by spin-wave analysis and Monte Carlo simulation. It is found that, even though neither of the nematic-like terms alone can induce magnetic ordering, their coexistence and competition leads to an extended phase of the magnetic quasi-long-range-order phase, wedged between the two nematic-like phases induced by the respective couplings. Thus, except for the multicritical point, at which all the phases meet, for any finite value of the coupling parameters ratio there are two phase transition: one from the paramagnetic phase to one of the two nematic-like phases followed by another one at lower temperatures to the magnetic phase. The finite-size scaling analysis indicates that the phase transitions between the magnetic and nematic-like phases belong to the Ising and three-state Potts universality classes. Inside the competition-induced algebraic magnetic phase, the spin-pair correlation function is found to decay even much more slowly than in the standard XY model with purely magnetic interactions. Such a magnetic phase is characterized by an extremely low vortex-antivortex pair density attaining a minimum close to the point at which the two couplings are of about equal strength.
In this work the results of the study on a generalization of the XY model with an additional q-fold nematic-like term through Monte Carlo simulations in two dimensions (2D) have been presented. While the conventional 2D XY model has only integer vortexes, the generalized 2D XY model has both integer and non-integer 1/q vortexes, making the phase diagram of the generalized 2D XY model is much richer than that of the conventional 2D XY model. Here, we located the phase transition between the disordered phase (P), the quasi-long-range order phase (F), and the nematic phase (N) for the case of q = 3. We provided the numerical evidence to clarify the N−F phase transition of either the first-ordered or second-ordered phase transition. The results showed that the N−F phase transition is the second-ordered, not the first-order phase transition.
It is well known that the 2D XY model exhibits an unusual infinite order phase transition belonging to the Kosterlitz-Thouless (KT) universality class. Introduction of a nematic coupling into the XY Hamiltonian leads to an additional phase transition in the Ising universality class [D. H. Lee and G. Grinstein, Phys. Rev. Lett. 55, 541 (1985)]. Using a combination of extensive Monte Carlo simulations and finite size scaling, we show that the higher order harmonics lead to a qualitatively different phase diagram, with additional ordered phases originating from the competition between the ferromagnetic and pseudonematic couplings. The new phase transitions belong to the 2D Potts, Ising, or KT universality classes.