Phase transitions of a tethered surface model with a deficit angle term

Abstract

The Nambu-Goto model is investigated by using the canonical Monte Carlo simulations on fixed connectivity surfaces of spherical topology. Three distinct phases are found: crumpled, tubular, and smooth. The crumpled and the tubular phases are smoothly connected, and the tubular and the smooth phases are connected by a discontinuous transition. The surface in the tubular phase forms an oblong and one-dimensional object similar to a one-dimensional linear subspace in the Euclidean three-dimensional space R3 . This indicates that the rotational symmetry inherent in the model is spontaneously broken in the tubular phase, and it is restored in the smooth and the crumpled phases.