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A two-dimensional Ising model with competing short range ferromagnetic and long range dipolar interactions is used to study the transition properties and phase diagram in ultrathin magnetic films. Monte Carlo simulations in systems with exchange and dipolar interactions reveal a ground state of striped phases with varying width. By raising the temperature, the domain walls are smeared out by fluctuations, leading to a random domain mesoscopic phase with no long-range order, and finally the domains are melted to the high-temperature disordered phase. Local magnetic field distributions and specific heat calculations reproduced transition points consistent with the previous phase diagram of the model. The resemblance to the phase diagram in ultrathin magnetic films, such as in Fe/Cu(100), is discussed.

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