Related papers: Is bimodality a sufficient condition for a first o…
A relativistic mean-field model of nuclear matter with arbitrary proton fraction is studied at finite temperature. An analysis is performed of the liquid-gas phase transition in a system with two conserved charges (baryon number and…
One-dimensional model of a system where first-order phase transition occurs is examined in the present paper. It is shown that basic properties of the phenomenon, such as a well defined temperature of transition, are caused both by…
Almost all normal-incommensurate phase transitions observed experimentally are continuous. We show that there is not any theoretical reason for this general behaviour in perfect crystals. A normal-incommensurate phase transition that is not…
We present the first example of a phase transition in a nonequilibrium steady-state that can be argued analytically to be first order. The system of interest is a two-species reaction-diffusion problem whose control parameter is the total…
Equilibrium phase transitions usually emerge from the microscopic behavior of many-body systems and are associated to interesting phenomena such as the generation of long-range order and spontaneous symmetry breaking. They can be defined…
By considering a solvable driven-dissipative quantum model, we demonstrate that continuous second order phase transitions in dissipative systems may occur without an accompanying spontaneous symmetry breaking. As such, the underlying…
A thermodynamic phase transition denotes a drastic change of state of a physical system due to a continuous change of thermodynamic variables, as for instance pressure and temperature. The classical van der Waals equation of state is the…
We study a random matrix model for the statistical properties of the purity of a bipartite quantum system at a finite (fictitious) temperature. This enables us to write the generating function for the cumulants, for both balanced and…
Thermodynamical properties of nuclear matter undergoing multifragmentation are studied within a simplified version of the statistical model. An exact analytical solution has been found for the grand canonical ensemble. Excluded volume…
The celebrated van der Waals model describes simple fluids in the thermodynamic limit and predicts the existence of a critical point associated to the gas-liquid phase transition. However the behaviour of critical isotherms according to the…
In this first paper, we demonstrate a theorem that establishes a first step toward proving a necessary topological condition for the occurrence of first or second order phase transitions: we prove that the topology of certain submanifolds…
Using a recently proposed classification scheme for phase transitions in finite systems [Phys.Rev.Lett.{\bf 84},3511 (2000)] we show that within the statistical standard model of nuclear multifragmentation the predicted phase transition is…
Solutions of hydrodynamical equations are presented for an equation of state allowing for a first-order phase transition. The numerical analysis is supplemented by analytical treatment provided the system is close to the critical point. The…
(abridged) In this paper, we present the issues we consider as essential as far as the statistical mechanics of finite systems is concerned. In particular, we emphasis our present understanding of phase transitions in the framework of…
Equilibrium statistical mechanics is intended to link the microscopic dynamics of particles to the thermodynamic laws for macroscopic quantities. However, the modern statistical theory is faced with significant difficulties, as applied to…
I discuss the validity of a result put forward recently by Chomaz and Gulminelli [Physica A 330 (2003) 451] concerning the equivalence of two definitions of first-order phase transitions. I show that distributions of zeros of the partition…
We address two issues in the thermodynamic model for nuclear disassembly. Surprisingly large differences in results for specific heat were seen in predictions from the canonical and grand canonical ensembles when the nuclear system passes…
Experimental nuclear level densities at excitation energies below the neutron threshold follow closely a constant-temperature shape. This dependence is unexpected and poorly understood. In this work, a fundamental explanation of the…
In addition to signals for the critical point, evidence for a first order phase transition would indicate a nontrivial structure within the QCD phase diagram. Moreover, while not a direct measurement of the critical point, the presence of a…
Two dimensional condensed matter is realised in increasingly diverse forms that are accessible to experiment and of potential technological value. The properties of these systems are influenced by many length scales and reflect both generic…