Related papers: Heterogeneous critical nucleation on a completely-…
Nucleation is the onset of a first-order phase transition by which a metastable phase transforms into a more stable one. Such a phase transition occurs when an initial system initially in equilibrium is destabilized by the change of an…
In the classic theory of solid adhesion, surface energy drives deformation to increase contact area while bulk elasticity opposes it. Recently, solid surface stress has been shown also to play an important role in opposing deformation of…
The spatio-temporal aspects of the transition to turbulence are considered in the case of a boundary layer flow developing above a flat plate exposed to free-stream turbulence. Combining results on the receptivity to free-stream turbulence…
Heterogeneous nucleation is the main path to ice formation on Earth. The ice nucleating ability of a certain substrate is mainly determined by both molecular interactions and the structural mismatch between the ice and the substrate…
Nonuniform neutron-rich matter present in both core-collapse supernovae and neutron-star crusts is described in terms of a semiclassical model that reproduces nuclear-matter properties and includes long-range Coulomb interactions. The…
We have constructed a complete hydrodynamic theory of nucleation and growth in a one--dimensional version of an elastic shear martensitic transformation with open boundary conditions where we have accounted for interfacial energies with…
We provide a complete description of the low temperature wetting transition for the two dimensional Solid-On-Solid model. More precisely we study the integer-valued field $(\phi(x))_{x\in \mathbb Z^2}$, associated associated to the energy…
A quantum phase transition is usually achieved by tuning physical parameters in a Hamiltonian at zero temperature. Here, we demonstrate that the ground state of a topological phase itself encodes critical properties of its transition to a…
Classical nucleation theory is used to estimate the free-energy barrier to nucleation of the solid phase of particles interacting via a potential which has a short-ranged attraction. Due to the high interfacial tension between the fluid and…
It has been conjectured that roughness plays a role in surface nucleation, the tendency for freezing to begin preferentially at the liquid-gas interface. Using high speed imaging, we sought evidence for freezing at the contact line on…
Heterogeneous nucleation is studied by Monte Carlo simulations and phenomenological theory, using the two-dimensional lattice gas model with suitable boundary fields. A chemical inhomogeneity of length b at one boundary favors the liquid…
A hallmark of a thermodynamic phase transition is the qualitative change of system thermodynamic properties such as energy and heat capacity. On the other hand, no phase transition is thought to operate in the supercritical state of matter…
Phase transitions ruled by nucleation and growth can occur by nonrandom arrangement of nuclei. This is verified, for instance, in thin film growth at solid surfaces by vapor condensation or by electrodeposition where, around each nucleus, a…
The transition from a nematic to an isotropic state in a self-closing spherical liquid crystal shell with tangential alignment is a stimulating phenomenon to investigate, as the topology dictates that the shell exhibits local isotropic…
We consider two-dimensional ($d=2$) systems with short-ranged microscopic interactions, where interface unbinding (wetting) transitions occur in the limit of vanishing temperature $T$. For $T=0$ the transition is characterized by…
The surface freezing and surface melting transitions exhibited by a model two-dimensional soft matter system is studied. The behaviour when confined within a wedge is also considered. The system consists of particles interacting via a soft…
Using as a starting point conservation of momentum, a multiphase mechanical energy balance equation is derived that accounts for multiple material phases and interfaces present within a moving control volume. This balance is applied to a…
The development of substrates with a switchable wettability is on a fast pace. The limit of switching frequencies and contact angle differences between substrate states are steadily pushed further. We investigate the behavior of a droplet…
By employing brute-force molecular dynamics, umbrella sampling, and seeding simulations, we investigate homogeneous nucleation during melting and freezing of hard spheres. We provide insights into these opposing phase transitions from the…
The effect of nucleon-nucleon correlations in symmetric nuclear matter at finite temperature is studied beyond BCS theory. Starting from a Hartree-Fock description of nuclear matter with the Gogny effective interaction, we add correlations…