Lattice spin systems coupled to a compact U(1) gauge field with negative gauge coupling favoring frustration
Abstract
We investigate the phase diagram and nature of the phase transitions of three-dimensional compact lattice Abelian Higgs models with negative gauge coupling. These models describe multicomponent complex scalar fields coupled to a compact U(1) gauge field. Negative gauge coupling favors frustrated plaquette configurations, competing with the tendency of the matter ferromagnetic-like interaction to suppress frustration. Monte Carlo simulations and finite-size scaling analyses of models with one- and two-component scalar fields of unit charge reveal a substantially richer phase structure than at nonnegative gauge coupling. For two components, the O(3) transition line associated with gauge-invariant bilinear ordering extends into the negative-coupling region, and turns into a first-order transition line with decreasing K, toward the fully-frustrated K→ −∞ limit. An analogous first-order transition line is also found for the one-component scalar matter with negative gauge coupling. Both one- and two-component models exhibit two additional continuous transition lines at sufficiently large matter coupling. Their energy-cumulant scaling is consistent with three-dimensional Ising and XY critical exponents, suggesting topological transitions in the ℤ2 and XY gauge universality classes, respectively. These results uncover additional phases generated by the competition between matter ordering and dynamical gauge frustration, whose physical characterization remains an open question.
Related
- Effective atom-dimer bands of three-body lattice systems at strong coupling: exact critical mass ratios and a statistics-quasimomentum duality
- Boundary-induced geometrical frustration in a square Rydberg-atom lattice
- Topological phases of bosons with local parity coupling on a dimerized lattice
- Colossal Spin--Lattice--Charge Coupling in Noncollinear Ferrimagnetic NbMnX2 (X = S, Se, Te) Monolayers
- Negative thermal expansion, lattice dynamics, and complex magnetism in TbFeO3
BibTeX
@misc{bonati2026lattice,
title = {{Lattice spin systems coupled to a compact U(1) gauge field with negative gauge coupling favoring frustration}},
author = {Claudio Bonati and Ettore Vicari},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2611.03837},
eprint = {2611.03837},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.03837},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Lattice spin systems coupled to a compact U(1) gauge field with negative gauge coupling favoring frustration
AU - Claudio Bonati
AU - Ettore Vicari
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/02
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2611.03837
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.03837
AB - We investigate the phase diagram and nature of the phase transitions of three-dimensional compact lattice Abelian Higgs models with negative gauge coupling. These models describe multicomponent complex scalar fields coupled to a compact U(1) gauge field. Negative gauge coupling favors frustrated plaquette configurations, competing with the tendency of the matter ferromagnetic-like interaction to suppress frustration. Monte Carlo simulations and finite-size scaling analyses of models with one- and two-component scalar fields of unit charge reveal a substantially richer phase structure than at nonnegative gauge coupling. For two components, the O(3) transition line associated with gauge-invariant bilinear ordering extends into the negative-coupling region, and turns into a first-order transition line with decreasing K, toward the fully-frustrated K→ −∞ limit. An analogous first-order transition line is also found for the one-component scalar matter with negative gauge coupling. Both one- and two-component models exhibit two additional continuous transition lines at sufficiently large matter coupling. Their energy-cumulant scaling is consistent with three-dimensional Ising and XY critical exponents, suggesting topological transitions in the ℤ_2 and XY gauge universality classes, respectively. These results uncover additional phases generated by the competition between matter ordering and dynamical gauge frustration, whose physical characterization remains an open question.
ER -