The BKT Transition and its Dynamics in a Spin Fluid

TL;DR

This study demonstrates the existence of a Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition in a two-dimensional spin fluid with particle mobility, revealing both static and dynamic critical behaviors consistent with BKT theory through computer simulations.

Contribution

The paper provides the first simulation-based evidence of a BKT transition in an off-lattice particle system with mobility, analyzing both static and dynamic properties.

Findings

Identified a BKT transition with critical temperature around 0.17

Observed power-law to exponential decay transition in correlation functions

Dynamic analysis shows spin wave damping influenced by particle mobility

Abstract

We study the effect of particle mobility on phase transitions in a spin fluid in two dimensions. The presence of a phase transition of the BKT universality class is shown in an off-lattice model of particles with purely repulsive interaction employing computer simulations. A critical spin wave region $0 < T < T_{\textrm{BKT}}$ is found with a non-universal exponent $\eta(T)$ that follows the shape suggested by BKT theory, including a critical value consistent with $\eta_{\textrm{BKT}} = 1/4$. One can observe a transition from power-law decay to exponential decay in the static correlation functions at the transition temperature $T_{\textrm{BKT}}$, which is supported by finite-size scaling analysis. A critical temperature $T_{\textrm{BKT}} = 0.17(1)$ is suggested. Investigations into the dynamic aspects of the phase transition are carried out. The short-time behavior of the incoherent spin autocorrelation function agrees with the Nelson-Fisher prediction, whereas the long-time behavior differs from the finite-size scaling known for the static XY model. Analysis of coherent spin wave dynamics shows that the spin wave peak is a propagating mode that can be reasonably well fitted by hydrodynamic theory. The mobility of the particles strongly enhances damping of the spin waves, but the model lies still within the dynamic universality class of the standard XY model.