Monte Carlo Simulation of the Heisenberg Antiferromagnet on a Triangular Lattice: Topological Excitations

We have simulated the classical Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a triangular lattice using a local Monte Carlo algorithm. The behavior of the correlation length $\xi$, the susceptibility at the ordering wavevector $\chi(\bf Q)$, and the spin stiffness $\rho$ clearly reflects the existence of two temperature regimes -- a high temperature regime $T > T_{th}$, in which the disordering effect of vortices is dominant, and a low temperature regime $T < T_{th}$, where correlations are controlled by small amplitude spin fluctuations. As has previously been shown, in the last regime, the behavior of the above quantities agrees well with the predictions of a renormalization group treatment of the appropriate nonlinear sigma model. For $T > T_{th}$, a satisfactory fit of the data is achieved, if the temperature dependence of $\xi$ and $\chi(\bf Q)$ is assumed to be of the form predicted by the Kosterlitz--Thouless theory. Surprisingly, the crossover between the two regimes appears to happen in a very narrow temperature interval around $T_{th} \simeq 0.28$.