We discuss how to locate critical points in the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) universality class by means of gap-scaling analyses. While accurately determining such points using gap extrapolation procedures is usually challenging and inaccurate due to the exponentially small value of the gap in the vicinity of the critical point, we show that a generic gap-scaling analysis, including the effects of logarithmic corrections, provides very accurate estimates of BKT transition points in a variety of spin and fermionic models. As a first example, we show how the scaling procedure, combined with density-matrix-renormalization-group simulations, performs extremely well in a nonintegrable spin-$3/2$ XXZ model, which is known to exhibit strong finite-size effects. We then analyze the extended Hubbard model, whose BKT transition has been debated, finding results that are consistent with previous studies based on the scaling of the Luttinger-liquid parameter. Finally, we investigate an anisotropic extended Hubbard model, for which we present the first estimates of the BKT transition line based on large-scale density-matrix-renormalization-group simulations. Our work demonstrates how gap-scaling analyses can help to locate accurately and efficiently BKT critical points, without relying on model-dependent scaling assumptions.

• Received 17 December 2014

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.91.165136