On the Melting of Bosonic Stripes

TL;DR

This paper uses quantum Monte Carlo simulations to explore how stripe phases in a 2D bosonic system melt at finite temperatures, revealing the nature of phase transitions and the effects of doping.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed finite temperature phase diagram of stripe melting in a 2D hard-core boson model using quantum Monte Carlo methods.

Findings

Stripe melting at half filling is first order.

Doped systems show weakly first order or second order transitions.

No clear intermediate nematic phase observed.

Abstract

We use quantum Monte Carlo simulations to determine the finite temperature phase diagram and to investigate the thermal and quantum melting of stripe phases in a two-dimensional hard-core boson model. At half filling and low temperatures the stripes melt at a first order transition. In the doped system, the melting transitions of the smectic phase at high temperatures and the superfluid smectic (supersolid) phase at low temperatures are either very weakly first order, or of second order with no clear indications for an intermediate nematic phase.