Sine-Gordon description of the scaling three-state Potts antiferromagnet on the square lattice

The scaling limit as T→0 of the antiferromagnetic three-state Potts model on the square lattice is described by the sine-Gordon quantum field theory at a specific value of the coupling. We show that the correspondence follows unambiguously from an analysis of the sine-Gordon operator space based on locality, and that the scalar operators carrying solitonic charge play an essential role in the description of the lattice model. We then evaluate the correlation functions within the form factor approach and give a number of universal predictions that can be checked in numerical simulations. (author). Letter-to-the-editor