title: Apparent phase transitions in finite one-dimensional sine-Gordon lattices.
abstract: We study the one-dimensional sine-Gordon model as a prototype of roughening phenomena. In spite of the fact that it has been recently proven that this model cannot have any phase transition [J. A. Cuesta and A. Sánchez, J. Phys. A 35, 2373 (2002)], Langevin as well as Monte Carlo simulations strongly suggest the existence of a finite temperature separating a flat from a rough phase. We explain this result by means of the transfer operator formalism and show as a consequence that sine-Gordon lattices of any practically achievable size will exhibit this apparent phase transition at unexpectedly large temperatures.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Matemáticas, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Avenida de la Universidad 30, 28911 Leganés, Madrid, Spain. saul@math.uc3m.es
authors.forename: Saúl
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ares
authors.forename: José A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Cuesta
authors.forename: Angel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sánchez
authors.forename: Raúl
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Toral