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Phase transitions are strongly constrained by spatial dimension. In conventional one-dimensional systems with short-range interactions, thermal fluctuations generally prevent continuous degrees of freedom from maintaining order over long distances.
A notable exception to conventional ordering is the Berezinskii–Kosterlitz–Thouless, or BKT, transition. Best known in two-dimensional superfluids, superconducting films, and magnetic systems, the BKT transition does not produce ordinary long-range order. Instead, the low-temperature phase exhibits correlations that decay slowly with distance.
Researchers at Kochi University of Technology have now shown that a one-dimensional mathematical model with nonlocal interactions can display correlation scaling similar to that associated with the two-dimensional BKT transition.
The key ingredient is fractional calculus—a generalization of ordinary derivatives to non-integer orders. By replacing the usual spatial derivative with a half-order derivative, the researchers constructed a one-dimensional model in which distant points interact directly.
"Rather than geometrically compressing a two-dimensional system into one dimension, fractional calculus changes how information is transmitted through space," explains Professor Michikazu Kobayashi of Kochi University of Technology. "It allows a one-dimensional field to retain long-range spatial connections that are absent in an ordinary local model."
Numerical evidence for BKT-like correlation scalingThe team studied a one-dimensional fractional U(1) Ginzburg–Landau model, a mathematical field theory used to describe ordering and phase transitions.
To generate equilibrium states at different temperatures, they used stochastic Gross–Pitaevskii dynamics and performed large-scale simulations for several system sizes. They then analyzed spatial correlations, Binder ratios, correlation ratios, effective exponents, and the free-energy response to an imposed phase twist.
At low temperatures, correlations decayed algebraically: they weakened as a power of distance rather than disappearing exponentially. The decay exponent varied with temperature, resembling the quasi-long-range order found below a conventional BKT transition.
The work was published in the journal Mathematics on October 9, 2026.
Similar correlations, but a different thermodynamic responseDespite the similarities in correlation scaling, the one-dimensional model does not reproduce every defining feature of the conventional two-dimensional BKT transition.
In the standard two-dimensional XY model, the helicity modulus—or superfluid stiffness—remains finite in the low-temperature phase and undergoes a universal jump at the transition.
The fractional one-dimensional model behaved differently.
The conventional linear-response quantity increased with system size rather than approaching a finite stiffness. A twist response adapted to the nonanalytic fractional dispersion remained finite in a finite system, but decreased with increasing system size in the low-temperature algebraic regime. It scaled in the same way as the squared zero-mode order parameter and therefore did not behave as an independent superfluid stiffness.
The model thus shows an unusual combination:
These results identify both an analogy and a fundamental difference. The one-dimensional model reproduces important correlation features of two-dimensional BKT physics, but its response to a global phase twist is not the same. This distinction is central to understanding what fractional nonlocality can—and cannot—carry from two dimensions into one.
A weak algebraic tail also survives at high temperatureThe high-temperature regime also differs from that of a conventional short-range system.
Because of the fractional nonlocal kernel, correlations retain a weak long-distance algebraic tail even at high temperature. In the model studied, this background tail is consistent with an inverse-square decay.
This high-temperature tail is not quasi-long-range order. Instead, it is imposed by the long-range interaction itself. The low-temperature regime is distinguished by the emergence of a much more slowly decaying correlation branch on top of that background.
This makes the transition region subtler than the familiar contrast between exponential decay above a transition and algebraic decay below it.
A student-led projectThe study was led by Hitomi Endo, a second-year master's student at Kochi University of Technology, who had worked with fractional derivatives since her undergraduate research.
This project began with a simple question: could the fractional calculus that Ms. Endo had already studied be used to uncover or understand new physics?
Is this a true thermodynamic transition?The numerical results show robust BKT-like behavior over the finite system sizes studied. However, the researchers emphasize that an important theoretical question remains unresolved.
The current evidence does not yet determine whether the model exhibits a genuine finite-temperature phase transition in the infinite-size limit, or an exceptionally long crossover associated with zero-temperature criticality.
Resolving this question will require larger-scale calculations and a controlled renormalization-group analysis of the compact nonlocal phase model. In particular, it remains necessary to establish whether a well-defined defect-based description exists in one dimension and, if so, how such defects interact with long-wavelength phase fluctuations.
Future studies will also vary the order of the fractional derivative to investigate how true long-range order, BKT-like algebraic behavior, and disorder connect across different degrees of nonlocality.
Why this mattersFractional calculus provides a mathematical way to encode long-range interactions without increasing spatial dimension.
This study shows that changing the order of a spatial derivative can allow a one-dimensional model to reproduce part of the correlation physics normally associated with a two-dimensional topological transition.
At the same time, the absence of the conventional stiffness jump demonstrates that similar correlation scaling does not necessarily imply identical thermodynamic behavior.
The work offers a framework for separating the roles of dimensionality, interaction range, and phase rigidity in nonlocal statistical systems. It may also help guide future studies of long-range superfluids, atomic condensates, optical systems, and other platforms in which effective nonlocal interactions can arise.
More informationHitomi Endo et al., BKT-like Correlation Scaling and Twist Responses in a One-Dimensional Fractional U(1) Ginzburg–Landau Model, Mathematics (2026). DOI: 10.3390/math14203647
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Citation: Fractional calculus helps 1D model mimic correlations seen in 2D phase transitions (2026, October 26) retrieved 26 October 2026 from https://phys.org/news/2026-10-fractional-calculus-1d-mimic-2d.html
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