Incommensurability in the Frustrated Two-Dimensional XY Model

TL;DR

This study investigates the frustrated 2D XY model at incommensurate fields, revealing a transition from staircase states to striped phases as the system approaches irrational filling factors.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the phase transitions and structural changes in the frustrated XY model near incommensurate fields, especially approaching the golden mean.

Findings

Finite-temperature weak first-order transition involving Ising-like domain walls.

Transition from staircase states to striped phases near incommensurability.

System behavior approaches irrational filling factors with distinct phase changes.

Abstract

To examine the properties of the frustrated XY model at an incommensurate field we have examined a sequence of magnetic filling factors f which approach the irrational value of one minus the golden mean. At all f studied, the system undergoes a finite-temperature weak first-order transition involving the freezing out of Ising-like domain walls. As one approaches incommensurability, the low temperature phase of the system changes from the staircase states found by Halsey to a striped phase consisting of a superlattice of parallel shift (Pott's-like) domain walls.