Related papers: Multiple ordering transitions in a chiral liquid
Liquid crystals in two dimensions undergo a first-order isotropic-to-quasi-nematic transition, provided the particle interactions are sufficiently ``sharp and narrow''. This implies phase coexistence between isotropic and quasi-nematic…
In this article we show that the phase-ordering scaling state for binary fluids is not necessarily unique and that local correlations in the initial conditions can be responsible for selecting the scaling state. We describe a new scaling…
Chiral nematic or cholesteric liquid crystals (LCs) are mesophases with long-ranged orientational order featuring a quasi-layered periodicity imparted by a helical configuration but lacking positional order. Doping molecular cholesteric LCs…
I consider skyrmionic states in non-centrosymmetric magnets near the ordering temperatures. I show that the interaction between the chiral skyrmions, being repulsive in a broad temperature range, changes into attraction at high…
Frustration and the associated phenomenon of "avoided criticality" have been proposed as an explanation for the dramatic relaxation slowdown in glass-forming liquids. To test this, we have undertaken a Monte-Carlo study of possibly the…
Disordered systems like liquids, gels, glasses, or granular materials are not only ubiquitous in daily life and in industrial applications but they are also crucial for the mechanical stability of cells or the transport of chemical and…
Simulations of nematic-isotropic transition of liquid crystals in two dimensions are performed using an O(2) vector model characterised by non linear nearest neighbour spin interaction governed by the fourth Legendre polynomial $P\_4$. The…
Achieving a coherent understanding of the many thermodynamic and dynamic anomalies of water is among the most important unsolved puzzles in physics, chemistry, and biology. One hypothesized explanation imagines the existence of a line of…
Symmetry fractionalization, generating a large amount of symmetry-protected topological phases, provides scenarios for continuous phase transitions different from spontaneous symmetry breaking. However, it is hard to detect these…
Chiral twisting of the molecular orientation within the layer of a smectic-A liquid crystal has been investigated using circular dichroism spectroscopy. The results indicate that a rotation of the layers away from the alignment direction is…
We discuss properties of Quantum Chromodynamics at finite temperature obtained by means of lattice simulations with overlap fermions. This fermion discretization preserves chiral symmetry even at finite lattice spacing. We present details…
Continuous phase transitions can be classified into ones characterized by local-order parameters and others that need additional topological constraints. The critical dynamics near the former transitions have been extensively studied, but…
The complex behavior of confined fluids arising due to a competition between layering and local packing can be disentangled by considering quasi-confined liquids, where periodic boundary conditions along the confining direction restore…
In this paper we present a new thermodynamically consistent phase transition model describing the evolution of a liquid substance, e.g., water, in a rigid container $\Omega$ when we freeze the container. Since the density $\varrho_{2}$ of…
The viscous slowing down of supercooled liquids that leads to glass formation can be considered as a classical, and is assuredly a thoroughly studied, example of a "jamming process". In this review, we stress the distinctive features…
We investigate the degree of local structural similarity between the parent-liquid and children-crystal states for a model soft-matter system of particles interacting through the harmonic-repulsive pair potential. At different pressures,…
A generally accepted understanding of the anomalous properties of water will only emerge if it becomes possible to systematically characterize water in the deeply supercooled regime, from where the anomalies appear to emanate. This has…
Existence and growth of amorphous order in supercooled liquids approaching glass transition is a subject of intense research. Even after decades of work, there is still no clear consensus on the molecular mechanisms that lead to a rapid…
The problem of the orientational ordering transition for lattice-gas models of liquid crystals is discussed in the low-dimensional case $d=1,2$. For isotropic short-range interactions, orientational long-range order at finite temperature is…
We derive a phase diagram for amorphous solids and liquid supercooled water and explain why the amorphous solids of water exist in several different forms. Application of large-deviation theory allows us to prepare such phases in computer…