Apparent phase transitions in finite one-dimensional sine-Gordon   lattices
  We study the one-dimensional sine-Gordon model as a prototype of roughening phenomena. In spite of the fact that it has been recently proven that this model can not have any phase transition [J. A. Cuesta and A. Sanchez, J. Phys. A 35, 2373 (2002)], Langevin as well as Monte Carlo simulations strongly suggest the existence of a finite temperature separating a flat from a rough phase. We explain this result by means of the transfer operator formalism and show as a consequence that sine-Gordon lattices of any practically achievable size will exhibit this apparent phase transition at unexpectedly large temperatures. 
Saul Ares, Jose A. Cuesta, Angel Sanchez (1) and Raul Toral (2) ((1)   GISC & Matematicas, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid,...