title: Emergence of hexatic and threefold hidden order in two-dimensional smectic liquid crystals: A Monte Carlo study.
abstract: Using a high resolution Monte Carlo simulation technique based on a multihistogram method and cluster algorithm, we have investigated the critical properties of a coupled XY model, consisting of a sixfold symmetric hexatic and a hidden order parameter of threefold symmetry in two dimensions. The simulation results demonstrate a series of continuous transitions in which both kinds of orderings are established simultaneously. It is found that the specific-heat anomaly exponents for some regions in coupling constants space are in excellent agreement with the experimentally measured exponents extracted from heat-capacity data near the smectic- A -hexatic- B transition of two-layer free standing films.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Isfahan University of Technology, 84156, Isfahan, Iran. shahbazi@cc.iut.ac.ir
authors.forename: Farhad
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Shahbazi
authors.forename: Rasool
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ghanbari