Critical behavior of the q-state clock model in three dimensions

Monte Carlo simulation was used to study the critical behavior of the q-state clock model in three dimensions. The q-state clock model serves as a bridge between the Ising model (q=2) and the continuous XY model (q=∞). For all values of q the clock models have second-order phase transitions with critical temperatures in the range bounded by those of the Ising and XY models. However, for 5<q<24 the clock models exhibit low-temperature single-spin excitations that are not present in the other models. The case of q=6 was used to study these features in detail.