Chiral critical behavior of frustrated spin systems in two dimensions from five-loop renormalization-group expansions

We analyze the critical behavior of two-dimensional N-vector spin systems with noncollinear order within the five-loop renormalization-group (RG) approximation. The structure of the RG flow is studied for different N leading to the conclusion that the chiral fixed point governing the critical behavior of physical systems with N=2 and N=3 does not coincide with that given by the 1/N expansion. We show that the stable chiral fixed point for Nless than or equal toN(*), including N=2 and N=3, turns out to be a focus. We give a complete characterization of the critical behavior controlled by this fixed point, also evaluating the subleading crossover exponents. The spiral-like approach of the chiral fixed point is argued to give rise to unusual crossover and near-critical regimes that may imitate varying critical exponents seen in numerous physical and computer experiments.