Logarithmic Quasi-Long-Range Order and Novel Continuous Phase Transition in the Two-Dimensional $XY$ Model with $1/r^4$ Interaction

Abstract

We investigate the phase diagram and critical properties of the two-dimensional classical XY model with interactions decaying as $1/r^{2+\sigma}$. At the marginal case $\sigma=2$, we show that the low-temperature phase is characterized by logarithmic quasi-long-range order (log-QLRO), where spin correlations decay as a power of the logarithm of distance, $C(r)\sim(\ln r)^{-\eta_\ell}$ with $\eta_\ell\propto T$, and that the transition into this phase is a continuous transition beyond both the Ginzburg-Landau-Wilson paradigm and the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless mechanism. Our analysis combines a near-exact Gaussian spin-wave theory, an adiabatic renormalization-group analysis, and large-scale Monte Carlo simulations. We find that the $1/r^4$ interaction logarithmically modifies the spin-wave stiffness kernel as $\gamma(k)\simeq\kappa k^2\ln(1/k)$, which suppresses vortex proliferation and gives rise to a nonuniversal correlation-length exponent $\nu\propto1/\sqrt{2\pi\kappa}$. Crucially, our simulations reveal that the short-range algebraic QLRO phase is unstable against a weak long-range perturbation for $\sigma\le2$. These results establish $\sigma=2$ as the crossover boundary between the long-range and short-range universality classes and provide a critical evaluation of recent theoretical proposals.