Abstract
The phase diagram of the two-dimensional classical neutral Coulomb gas (CG) at finite temperature has been investigated via the mapping to the ground-state properties of the (1+1)-dimensional quantum sine-Gordon model. On the basis of self-consistent-field theory recently proposed by the authors for the quantum sine-Gordon model, we show that the CG undergoes two distinct classes of Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transitions between the dielectric gas and conductive plasma: one is the usual continuous transition of infinite order at very small fugacity, the other is a first-order discontinuous transition starting at the fugacity ${\mathit{z}}^{\mathrm{*}}$=0.08 and the temperature ${\mathit{T}}^{\mathrm{*}}$=0.25. Our results further corroborate the existence of a first-order phase transition in the dense CG system predicted by Minnhagen's self-consistent linear screening renormalization theory and Monte Carlo simulations.
Published Version
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