A dichotomy theory for height functions

Abstract: Height functions are random functions on a given graph, in our case integer-valued functions on the two-dimensional square lattice. We consider gradient potentials which (informally) lie between the discrete Gaussian and solid-on-solid model (inclusive). The phase transition in this model, known as the roughening transition, Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition, or localisation-delocalisation transition, was established rigorously in the 1981 breakthrough work of Fr\"ohlich and Spencer. It was not until 2005 that Sheffield derived continuity of the phase transition. First, we establish sharpness, in the sense that covariances decay exponentially in the localised phase. Second, we show that the model is delocalised at criticality, in the sense that the set of potentials inducing localisation is open in a natural topology. Third, we prove that the pointwise variance of the height function is at least $c\log n$ in the delocalised regime, where $n$ is the distance to the boundary, and where $c>0$ denotes a universal constant. This implies that the effective temperature of any potential cannot lie in the interval $(0,c)$ (whenever it is well-defined), and jumps from $0$ to at least $c$ at the critical point. We call this range of forbidden values the effective temperature gap.