Related papers: Vacancy-stabilized crystalline order in hard cubes
First order phase transitions are ubiquitous in nature, however, this notion is ambiguous and highly debated in the case of quantum systems out of thermal equilibrium. We construct a paradigmatic example which allows for elucidating the key…
Monte Carlo simulations have been performed for aqueous charged colloidal suspensions as a function of charge density on the particles and salt concentration. We vary the charge density in our simulations over a range where a reentrant…
In this conference proceeding, I discuss in detail the deconfinement to quark matter that takes place at large densities and/or temperatures. The first-order phase transition that is assumed to appear beyond a critical point gives rise to…
Studies of nucleation generally focus on the properties of the critical cluster, but the presence of defects within the crystal lattice means that the population of nuclei necessarily evolve through a distribution of pre-critical clusters…
We present a theoretical study of classical Wigner crystals in two- and three-dimensional isotropic parabolic traps aiming at understanding and quantifying the configurational uncertainty due to the presence of multiple stable…
We study the competing order and chaos in a first-order quantum phase transition with a high barrier. The boson model Hamiltonian employed, interpolates between its U(5) (spherical) and SU(3) (deformed) limits. A classical analysis reveals…
We numerically examine the effect of thermal fluctuations on a first-order phase transition in 2+1 dimensions. By focusing on the expansion of a single bubble we are able to calculate changes in the bubble wall's velocity as well as changes…
We use computer simulations to investigate the static properties of a simple glass-forming fluid in which the positions of a finite fraction of the particles has been frozen in. By probing the equilibrium distribution of the overlap between…
Although crystalline solids are characterized by their periodic structures, some are only periodic on average and deviate on a local scale. Distinct local orderings can exist with identical periodic structures making their differences…
We examine dense self-gravitating stellar systems dominated by a central potential, such as nuclear star clusters hosting a central supermassive black hole. Different dynamical properties of these systems evolve on vastly different…
Bubbles appear when a carbonated drink is poured in a glass. Very stable bubble chains are clearly observed in champagne, showing an almost straight line from microscopic nucleation sites from which they are continuously formed. In some…
Driven suspensions, where energy is input at a particle scale, are a framework for understanding general principles of out-of-equilibrium organization. A large number of simple interacting units can give rise to non-trivial structure and…
Recent theories predict that when a supercooled liquid approaches the glass transition, particle clusters with a special "amorphous order" nucleate within the liquid, which lead to static correlations dictating the dramatic slowdown of…
The supersolid state of matter, exhibiting non-dissipative flow in solids, has been elusive for thirty five years. The recent discovery of a non-classical moment of inertia in solid 4He by Kim and Chan provided the first experimental…
This dissertation describes the effect of quenched randomness on first order phase transitions in lattice systems, classical and quantum. It is proven that a large class of quantum lattice systems in low dimension (d <= 2 or, with suitable…
We investigate the early part of the crystal nucleation process in the hard sphere fluid using data produced by computer simulation. We find that hexagonal order manifests continuously in the overcompressed liquid, beginning approximately…
The effect of confinement on the phase behaviour and structure of fluids made of biaxial hard particles (cuboids) is examined theoretically by means of Onsager second-order virial theory in the limit where the long particle axes are frozen…
We investigate the dynamics of chaotic trajectories in simple yet physically important Hamiltonian systems with non-hierarchical borders between regular and chaotic regions with positive measures. We show that the stickiness to the border…
The influence of electrostatic interactions on the ordering of sodium ions in Na$_x$CoO$_2$ is studied theoretically through Monte-Carlo simulations. For large $x$ small di- or tri-vacancy clusters are stable with respect to isolated Na…
We experimentally investigate the nature of 2D phase transitions in a quasi-2D granular fluid. Using a surface decorated with periodically spaced dimples we observe interfacial tension between coexisting liquid and crystal phases.…