Long-range Order in a Short-range Quasi-2D XY Model

Abstract: The phase of spins in the quasi-two-dimensional (Q2D) XY model has emerged as a topic of significant interest across multiple physics subfields. Here, we propose a short-range (SR) Q2D XY model defined on a plane perpendicularly intersected by a group of parallel planes, with each plane consisting of nearest-neighbor-coupled XY spins. We perform large-scale Monte Carlo simulations to establish the full phase diagram of the Q2D XY model, aided by finite-size scaling. A long-range (LR) ordered phase emerges in the Q2D model when the spins on the parallel planes develop a Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless critical phase. In the LR ordered phase, ordering is anisotropic: LR correlations develop along the direction of the intersection lines, while critical correlations emerge perpendicular to them. Furthermore, the LR ordered phase exhibits Goldstone-mode physics. Our study hence reveals the existence of LR order in a Q2D XY model with finite SR couplings and opens up a new avenue to explore superfluid orders in low dimensions.