English

Phase behavior of the Confined Lebwohl-Lasher Model

Statistical Mechanics 2015-05-19 v1

Abstract

The phase behavior of confined nematogens is studied using the Lebwohl-Lasher model. For three dimensional systems the model is known to exhibit a discontinuous nematic-isotropic phase transition, whereas the corresponding two dimensional systems apparently show a continuous Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless like transition. In this paper we study the phase transitions of the Lebwohl-Lasher model when confined between planar slits of different widths in order to establish the behavior of intermediate situations between the pure planar model and the three-dimensional system, and compare with previous estimates for the critical thickness, i.e. the slit width at which the transition switches from continuous to discontinuous.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1007.2128,
  title  = {Phase behavior of the Confined Lebwohl-Lasher Model},
  author = {N. G. Almarza and C. Martín and E. Lomba},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1007.2128},
  year   = {2015}
}

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Submitted to Physical Review E