Emergent topological ordered phase for the Ising-XY model revealed by cluster-updating Monte Carlo method

Abstract

The two-component cold atom systems with anisotropic hopping amplitudes can be phenomenologically described by a two-dimensional Ising-XY coupled model with spatial anisotropy. At low temperatures, theoretical predictions [Phys. Rev. A 72 053604 (2005)] and [arXiv: 0706.1609] indicate the existence of a topological ordered phase characterized by Ising and XY disorder but with 2XY ordering. However, due to ergodic difficulties faced by Monte Carlo methods at low temperatures, this topological phase has not been numerically explored. We propose a linear cluster updating Monte Carlo method, which flips spins without rejection in the anisotropy limit but does not change the energy. Using this scheme and conventional Monte Carlo methods, we succeed in revealing the nature of topological phases with half-vortices and domain walls. In the constructed global phase diagram, Ising and XY-type transitions are very close to each other and differ significantly from the schematic phase diagram reported earlier. We also propose and explore a wide range of quantities, including magnetism, superfluidity, specific heat, susceptibility, and even percolation susceptibility, and obtain consistent and reliable results. Furthermore, we observed first-order transitions characterized by common intersection points in magnetizations for different system sizes, as opposed to the conventional phase transition where Binder cumulants of various sizes share common intersections. The critical exponents of different types of phase transitions are reasonably fitted. The results are useful to help cold atom experiments explore the half-vortex topological phase.