title: Vortex description of the first-order phase transition in the two-dimensional Abelian-Higgs model.
abstract: We use both analytical arguments and detailed numerical evidence to show that the first-order transition in the type-I two-dimensional Abelian-Higgs model is commensurate with the statistical behavior of its vortex fluctuations, which behave as an ensemble of attractive particles. The clustering instabilities of such ensembles are shown to be connected to the process of phase nucleation. Calculations of the vortex equation of state show that the temperature for the onset of clustering is in qualitative agreement with the critical temperature. The vortex description provides a general gauge invariant mesoscopic mechanism for the first-order transition and applies for arbitrary type-I couplings.
authors.affiliation: Center for Theoretical Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Luís M A
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Bettencourt
authors.forename: Greg J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Stephens