Zero-temperature phase transitions of an antiferromagnetic Ising model of general spin on a triangular lattice

We map the ground-state ensemble of antiferromagnetic Ising model of spin-S on a triangular lattice to an interface model whose entropic fluctuations are proposed to be described by an effective Gaussian free energy, which enables us to calculate the critical exponents of various operators in terms of the stiffness constant of the interface. Monte Carlo simulations for the ground-state ensemble utilizing this interfacial representation are performed to study both the dynamical and the static properties of the model. This method yields more accurate numerical results for the critical exponents. By varying the spin magnitude in the model, we find that the model exhibits three phases with a Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition at 3/2<S-KT<2 and a locking phase transition 5/2<S-L less than or equal to 3. The phase diagram at finite temperatures is also discussed.