Non-Kosterlitz-Thouless transitions for the<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mi>q</mml:mi></mml:math>-state clock models

Abstract

The q -state clock model with the cosine potential has a single phase transition for q≤4 and two transitions for q≥5 . It is shown by Monte Carlo simulations that the helicity modulus for the five-state clock model (q=5) does not vanish at the high-temperature transition. This is in contrast to the clock models with q≥6 for which the helicity modulus vanishes. This means that the transition for the five-state clock model differs from the Kosterlitz-Thouless (KT) transition. It is also shown that this change in the transition is caused by an interplay between the number of angular directions and the interaction potential: by slightly modifying the interaction potential, the KT transition for q=6 turns into the same non-KT transition. Likewise, the KT transition is recovered for q=5 when the Villain potential is used. Comparisons with other clock-model results are made and discussed.