TY - JOUR
T1 - From hard spheres to hard-core spins
AU - Sommers, Grace M.
AU - Placke, Benedikt
AU - Moessner, Roderich
AU - Sondhi, S. L.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 American Physical Society.
PY - 2021/3/4
Y1 - 2021/3/4
N2 - A system of hard spheres exhibits physics that is controlled only by their density. This comes about because the interaction energy is either infinite or zero, so all allowed configurations have exactly the same energy. The low-density phase is liquid, while the high-density phase is crystalline, an example of "order by disorder"as it is driven purely by entropic considerations. Here we study a family of hard spin models, which we call hard-core spin models, where we replace the translational degrees of freedom of hard spheres with the orientational degrees of freedom of lattice spins. Their hard-core interaction serves analogously to divide configurations of the many spin system into allowed and disallowed sectors. We present detailed results on the square lattice in d=2 for a set of models with Zn symmetry, which generalize Potts models, and their U(1) limits, for ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic senses of the interaction, which we refer to as exclusion and inclusion models. As the exclusion and inclusion angles are varied, we find a Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition between a disordered phase and an ordered phase with quasi-long-ranged order, which is the form order by disorder takes in these systems. These results follow from a set of height representations, an ergodic cluster algorithm, and transfer matrix calculations.
AB - A system of hard spheres exhibits physics that is controlled only by their density. This comes about because the interaction energy is either infinite or zero, so all allowed configurations have exactly the same energy. The low-density phase is liquid, while the high-density phase is crystalline, an example of "order by disorder"as it is driven purely by entropic considerations. Here we study a family of hard spin models, which we call hard-core spin models, where we replace the translational degrees of freedom of hard spheres with the orientational degrees of freedom of lattice spins. Their hard-core interaction serves analogously to divide configurations of the many spin system into allowed and disallowed sectors. We present detailed results on the square lattice in d=2 for a set of models with Zn symmetry, which generalize Potts models, and their U(1) limits, for ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic senses of the interaction, which we refer to as exclusion and inclusion models. As the exclusion and inclusion angles are varied, we find a Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition between a disordered phase and an ordered phase with quasi-long-ranged order, which is the form order by disorder takes in these systems. These results follow from a set of height representations, an ergodic cluster algorithm, and transfer matrix calculations.
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U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevB.103.104407
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevB.103.104407
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85102875999
SN - 2469-9950
VL - 103
JO - Physical Review B
JF - Physical Review B
IS - 10
M1 - 104407
ER -