Two separate phase transitions in an interacting monomer-dimer model on a square lattice: non-Ising criticality and critical absorbing phase

We present a numerical study on an interacting monomer-dimer model with nearest neighbor repulsion on a square lattice, which possesses two symmetric absorbing states. The model is observed to exhibit two nearby continuous transitions: the $Z_2$ symmetry-breaking order-disorder transition and the absorbing transition with directed percolation criticality. We find that the symmetry-breaking transition shows a non-Ising critical behavior, and that the absorbing phase becomes critical, in the sense that the critical decay of the dimer density observed at the absorbing transition persists even within the absorbing phase. Our findings call for further studies on the microscopic models and corresponding continuum description belonging to the generalized voter universality class.