First order phase transitions and the thermodynamic limit
Soft Condensed Matter
2020-01-30 v3
Abstract
We consider simple mean field continuum models for first order liquid-liquid demixing and solid-liquid phase transitions and show how the Maxwell construction at phase coexistence emerges on going from finite-size closed systems to the thermodynamic limit. The theories considered are the Cahn-Hilliard model of phase separation, which is also a model for the liquid-gas transition, and the phase field crystal model of the solid-liquid transition. Our results show that states comprising the Maxwell line depend strongly on the mean density with spatially localized structures playing a key role in the approach to the thermodynamic limit.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1908.11304,
title = {First order phase transitions and the thermodynamic limit},
author = {Uwe Thiele and Tobias Frohoff-Hülsmann and Sebastian Engelnkemper and Edgar Knobloch and Andrew J. Archer},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1908.11304},
year = {2020}
}