Functional renormalization-group approach to the Pokrovsky-Talapov model via the modified massive Thirring fermions

Abstract

We consider a possibility of the topological Kosterlitz-Thouless (KT) transition in the two-dimensional Pokrovsky-Talapov model with a finite misfit parameter and discuss its relevance to the theory of critical behavior in thin films of monoaxial chiral helimagnets. For this purpose, the initial model is reformulated in terms of the two-dimensional relativistic model of massive Thirring fermions and the Wetterich's functional renormalization-group (RG) approach is employed. In the new formalism, the misfit parameter corresponds to an effective gauge field that can be included in the RG scheme on an equal footing with the other parameters of the theory. Our main result is that the presence of the misfit parameter, which may be attributed to the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in the magnetic system, rules out the KT transition. To support this finding, we provide an additional intuitive explanation of the KT scenario breakdown by using the mapping onto the Coulomb gas model. In the framework of the model, the misfit parameter has a meaning of an effective in-plane electric field that prevents a formation of bound vortex-antivortex pairs. © 2017 American Physical Society.