Magnetization Jump in a Model for Flux Lattice Melting at Low Magnetic Fields

Using a frustrated XY model on a lattice with open-boundary conditions, we numerically study the magnetization change near a flux lattice melting transition at low fields. In both two and three dimensions, we find that the melting transition is followed at a higher temperature by the onset of large dissipation associated with the zero-field XY transition. It is characterized by the proliferation of vortex-antivortex pairs (in 2D) or vortex loops (in 3D). At the upper transition, there is a sharp increase in magnetization, in qualitative agreement with recent local Hall probe experiments.