Related papers: The Smectic A to C Phase Transition in Isotropic D…
The effects of an aperiodic order or a random disorder on phase transitions in statistical mechanics are discussed. A heuristic relevance criterion based on scaling arguments as well as specific results for Ising models with random disorder…
The biaxial smectic-A* (Sm-A_B*) phase, appearing in the phase sequence Sm-A*--Sm-A*_B--Sm-C*, is analyzed using Landau theory. It is found to possess a helical superstructure with a pitch that is significantly shorter than the pitch of the…
Phase transitions in random systems are smeared if individual spatial regions can order independently of the bulk system. In this paper, we study such smeared phase transitions (both classical and quantum) in substitutional alloys…
Soft modulated phases have been shown to undergo complex morphological transitions, in which layer remodeling induced by mean and Gaussian curvatures plays a major role. This is the case in smectic films under thermal treatment, where focal…
The order parameters for the phenomenological description of the smectic-{\it A} to smectic-{\it C} phase transition are formulated on the basis of molecular symmetry and structure. It is shown that, unless the long molecular axis is an…
We develop a general theory for discontinuous non-equilibrium phase transitions into an absorbing state in the presence of temporal disorder. We focus in two paradigmatic models for discontinuous transitions: the quadratic contact process…
We study a model for the Nematic--Smectic-A (NA) transition in aerogel, and find that even arbitrarily weak quenched disorder (i.e., low aerogel density) destroys translational (smectic) order. Ignoring elastic anharmonicities, but keeping…
We consider the shear flow of well-aligned one-component smectic phases, such as thermotropic smectics and lamellar diblock copolymers, below the critical region. We show that, as a result of thermal fluctuations of the layers, parallel…
We study the thermal phase transitions of a generic real scalar field, without a $Z_2$-symmetry, referred to variously as an inert, sterile or singlet scalar, or $\phi^3+\phi^4$ theory. Such a scalar field arises in a wide range of models,…
The theory of nematic-smectic phase transition in the system of uniform semi-flexible chains with hard-core repulsion is presented. Both the general density-functional formalism the tube-model calculation show that the flexibility of the…
We consider disorder-order phase transitions in the three-dimensional version of the scalar noise model (SNM) of flocking. Our results are analogous to those found for the two-dimensional case. For small velocity (v <= 0.1) a continuous,…
We investigate the behavior of nonequilibrium phase transitions under the influence of disorder that locally breaks the symmetry between two symmetrical macroscopic absorbing states. In equilibrium systems such "random-field" disorder…
We study a zero-temperature phase transition in the random field Ising model on scale-free networks with the degree exponent $\gamma$. Using an analytic mean-field theory, we find that the spins are always in the ordered phase for…
In this paper we present our detailed investigations on the nature of the phase transition in the scalar noise model (SNM) of collective motion. Our results confirm the original findings of Vicsek et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 75 (1995) 1226]…
We present and analyze a model for the combination of bulk and surface electroclinic effects in the smectic-A* (Sm-A) phase near a Sm-A*--Sm-C* transition. As part of our analysis we calculate the dependence of the surface tilt on external…
This paper investigates the asymptotic behavior of structural break tests in the harmonic domain for time dependent spherical random fields. In particular, we prove a functional central limit theorem result for the fluctuations over time of…
We investigate the phase behaviour of a two-dimensional colloidal model system of ultra-soft particles on a substrate which varies periodically along one spatial direction. Our calculations are based on mean-field density functional theory…
We study the effect of introducing separable quenched disorder on a non-equilibrium mean-field spin model exhibiting a phase transition to an oscillating state in the absence of disorder, due to non-reciprocal interactions. In the…
We study the yielding transition of a two dimensional amorphous system under shear by using a mesoscopic elasto-plastic model. The model combines a full (tensorial) description of the elastic interactions in the system, and the possibility…
We show that phase transitions in Ising systems with planar defects, i.e., disorder perfectly correlated in two dimensions are destroyed by smearing. This is caused by effects similar to but stronger than the Griffiths phenomena:…