Monte Carlo calculation of the current-voltage characteristics of a two-dimensional lattice Coulomb gas.

We have studied the nonlinear current-voltage characteristic of a two dimensional lattice Coulomb gas by Monte Carlo simulation. We present three different determinations of the power-law exponent a(T ) of the nonlinear current-voltage characteristic, V ∼ Ia(T )+1. The determinations rely on both equilibrium and non-equilibrium simulations. We find good agreement between the different determinations, and our results also agree closely with experimental results for Hg-Xe thin film superconductors and for certain single crystal thin-film high temperature superconductors. Typeset using REVTEX 1