Abstract
One of the most fascinating properties of high-Tc superconductors is the existence of a thermodynamic phase-transition located well below the mean field transition lineHc2. This transition is a first order melting transition of the Abrikosov vortex lattice into a entangled vortex liquid, and is signalled by a discontinuity in the magnetization. On the London level, the vortex system can be mapped onto interacting bosons in two dimensions. We use this mapping to simulate the vortex system with Path Integral Monte Carlo methods. This approach does not introduce an underlying lattice and allows for the simultaneous investigation of crystalline and longitudinal long-range order. We find a first-order transition as the system passes from a lattice to an entangled liquid. The jump in the magnetization is in agreement with experiments. The phase diagrams of bosons and of vortices are discussed.
Published Version
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