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Nuclear Physics B

Monte Carlo studies of the two-dimensional XY model with four-fold anisotropy

Truong Thi Bach Yen, Le Thi Thao Vien, Nguyễn Trí Tuấn, Dinh Manh Tien, Nguyen Duc Dung, Hoang Mai Anh, Tran Truong Giang, Nguyen Vo Nguyen Huy, Le Chi Luan, Duong Xuan Nui, Dao Xuan Viet

Published May 15, 2026• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Early theoretical studies of the two-dimensional XY model with four-fold anisotropy (XY h 4 ) predicted that any finite anisotropy should completely suppress Kosterlitz–Thouless (KT) transition of the isotropic system and replace it with a second-order phase transition. This prediction is inconsistent with Monte Carlo (MC) simulations, which suggested KT-like behavior at weak anisotropy. To resolve this discrepancy, we performed large-scale MC simulations to systematically examine the XY h 4 model across a wide range of anisotropic strengths. Our results indicate that while weak anisotropy can mimic KT behavior in small systems, a detailed finite-size scaling analysis of larger systems reveals that the temperature derivative of Binder ratio and the correlation length ratio displays scaling behaviors characteristic of a second-order transition even at the weak h 4 values. The critical exponent ν is non-universal and varies continuously with h 4 from weak to strong anisotropy. These findings confirm that XY h 4 model exhibits a second-order phase transition for weak finite anisotropy, effectively reconciling theoretical predictions with numerical observations.

DOI
10.1016/j.nuclphysb.2026.117511

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Early theoretical studies of the two-dimensional XY model with four-fold anisotropy (XY h 4 ) predicted that any finite anisotropy should completely suppress Kosterlitz–Thouless (KT) transition of the isotropic system and replace it with a second-order phase transition. This prediction is inconsistent with Monte Carlo (MC) simulations, which suggested KT-like behavior at weak anisotropy. To resolve this discrepancy, we performed large-scale MC simulations to systematically examine the XY h 4 model across a wide range of anisotropic strengths. Our results indicate that while weak anisotropy can mimic KT behavior in small systems, a detailed finite-size scaling analysis of larger systems reveals that the temperature derivative of Binder ratio and the correlation length ratio displays scaling behaviors characteristic of a second-order transition even at the weak h 4 values. The critical exponent ν is non-universal and varies continuously with h 4 from weak to strong anisotropy. These findings confirm that XY h 4 model exhibits a second-order phase transition for weak finite anisotropy, effectively reconciling theoretical predictions with numerical observations.
We numerically investigate the critical properties of the two-dimensional XY model with four-fold and eight-fold crystal fields. Using extensive Monte Carlo simulations, we compute the specific heat, magnetization, orientational magnetization, and correlation length ratio to examine how these anisotropies influence the nature of phase transitions. The critical temperature and the critical exponent are systematically mapped across both compatible and competing field regimes, spanning from weak to strong field strengths. The numerical results reveal that the critical exponent exhibits a linear dependence on the inverse of the four-fold field strength in the strong field regime, while remaining finite and non-divergent in the weak field regime. Furthermore, the orientational magnetization effectively identifies and characterizes Ising-type phase transitions in the competing field regime.
We present detailed Monte Carlo results for the susceptibility \ensuremath{\chi}, correlation length \ensuremath{\xi}, and specific heat Cv{\mathit{C}}_{\mathit{v}}Cv​ for the XY model. The simulations are done on 642{64}^{2}642, 1282{128}^{2}1282, 2562{256}^{2}2562, and 5122{512}^{2}5122 lattices over the temperature range 0.98\ensuremath{\le}T\ensuremath{\le}1.43 corresponding to 270. Fits to \ensuremath{\chi} and \ensuremath{\xi} data favor a Kosterlitz-Thouless (KT) singularity over a second-order transition; however, unconstrained four-parameter KT fits do not confirm the predicted values \ensuremath{\nu}=0.5 and \ensuremath{\eta}=0.25. Our best estimate, Tc{\mathit{T}}_{\mathit{c}}Tc​=0.894(5), is obtained using KT fits with \ensuremath{\nu} fixed at 0.5. The exponent \ensuremath{\eta} is calculated as a function of temperature in the spin-wave phase using Monte Carlo renormalization-group and finite-size-scaling methods. Both methods give consistent results and we find \ensuremath{\eta}\ensuremath{\approxeq}0.235 at T=0.894. We also present results for the behavior of vortex density across the transition and exhibit how the dilute-gas approximation breaks down.
Spontaneous symmetry breaking of 2D isotropic Heisenberg magnet is restricted by Mermin-Wagner theorem at any finite temperature in presence of short-range exchange interaction.Kosterlitz and Thouless using XY spin model showed that how an order state could developed in 2D spin system in presence of short range isotropic interaction.Very recent discovery of several van der waals magnet revised and redefined our understanding on 2D Heisenberg magnet and its ground state properties.After a rigorous and careful study of several 2D magnetic material we have realized from both experimentally and numerically that the finite size of a 2D system has great impact on the ground state symmetry breaking.Because of that finite size effect more often an anisotropic residual magnetic moment is generated and trigger the spontaneous symmetry breaking at finite temperature(T) and even only presence of short-range interaction we observed the phase transition of that Heisenberg spin system.In this present work we have shown the basic role of finite size,anisotropy during the symmetry breaking of 2D Heisenberg XY magnet.Here we have simulated Kosterlitz-Thouless transition using classical Monte-carlo simulation and study the effect of anisotropy during the phase transition.We presented the behaviour of different thermodynamic properties of 2D XY spin model system during the Kosterlitz-Thouless(KT) transition.The generic characteristic of KT transition which make it distinct from other critical phenomena is that the peak of heat capacity is not diverging with increase of system size rather peak is decreasing with the increasing of system size near at transition temperature.Here we are observing that behaviour in our present simulation and that specific behaviour help us for classifying the present transition as Kosterlitz-Thouless(KT) transition.
We study the two-dimensional XY\mathrm{XY}XY model with quenched random phases by Monte Carlo simulation and finite-size scaling analysis. We determine the phase diagram of the model and study its critical behavior as a function of disorder and temperature. If the strength of the randomness is less than a critical value, ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{c},$ the system has a Kosterlitz-Thouless (KT) phase transition from the paramagnetic phase to a state with quasi-long-range order. Our data suggest that the latter exists down to T=0T=0T=0 in contradiction with theories that predict the appearance of a low-temperature reentrant phase. At the critical disorder ${T}_{\mathrm{KT}}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$ and for $\ensuremath{\sigma}>{\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{c}$ there is no quasiordered phase. At zero temperature there is a phase transition between two different glassy states at ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{c}.$ The functional dependence of the correlation length on $\ensuremath{\sigma}$ suggests that this transition corresponds to the disorder-driven unbinding of vortex pairs.
We study the two-dimensional generalized XY model that depends on an integer qqq by the Monte Carlo method. This model was recently proposed by Romano and Zagrebnov. We find a single Kosterlitz-Thouless (KT) transition for all values of qqq, in contrast with the previous speculation that there may be two transitions, one a regular KT transition and another a first-order transition at a higher temperature. We show the universality of the KT transitions by comparing the universal finite-size scaling behaviors at different values of qqq without assuming a specific universal form in terms of the KT transition temperature TKTT_{\rm KT}TKT​.
We study the classical XY (plane rotator) model at the Kosterlitz–Thouless phase transition. We simulate the model using the single-cluster algorithm on square lattices of a linear size up to L = 2048. We derive the finite-size behaviour of the second moment correlation length over the lattice size ξ 2nd / L at the transition temperature. This new prediction and the analogous one for the helicity modulus ϒ are confronted with our Monte Carlo data. This way β KT = 1.1199 is confirmed as inverse transition temperature. Finally, we address the puzzle of logarithmic corrections of the magnetic susceptibility χ at the transition temperature.