Item

Abstract

We consider two-dimensional (d = 2) systems with short-ranged microscopic interactions, where interface unbinding (wetting) transitions occur in the limit of vanishing temperature T. For T = 0 the transition is characterized by non-universal critical properties analogous to those established for thermal wetting transitions in d = 3, albeit with a redefined capillary parameter (omega) over tilde. Within a functional renormalization-group treatment of an effective interfacial model, we compute the finite-temperature phase diagram, exhibiting a line of interface unbinding transitions, terminating at T = 0 with an interfacial quantum-critical point. We identify distinct scaling regimes, reflecting the interplay between quantum and thermal interfacial fluctuations. A crossover line marking the onset of the quantum-critical regime is described by the d = 3 interfacial correlation-length exponent nu(parallel to). This potentially opens another way to investigate the non-universal character of nu(parallel to). On the other hand, the emergent interfacial quantum-critical regime shows no signatures of non-universality. Copyright (C) EPLA, 2015