Related papers: On the Phase Transitions That Cannot Materialize
Despite the fundamental importance of solid--solid transitions for metallurgy, ceramics, earth science, reconfigurable materials, and colloidal matter, the details of how materials transform between two solid structures are poorly…
We consider an off-lattice liquid crystal pair potential in strictly two dimensions. The potential is purely repulsive and short-ranged. Nevertheless, by means of a single parameter in the potential, the system is shown to undergo a…
Despite the common expectation that conjugated organic molecules on metals tend to adsorb in a flat-lying wetting layer, several recent studies have found strong indications for coverage-dependent transitions to upright-standing phases,…
Crystallization, a prototypical self-organization process during which a disordered state spontaneously transforms into a crystal characterized by a regular arrangement of its building blocks, usually proceeds by nucleation and growth. In…
We study various dynamical aspects of systems possessing a first order phase transition in their phase diagram. We isolate three qualitatively distinct types of theories depending on the structure of instabilities and the nature of the low…
All phase transitions can be categorised into two different types: continuous and discontinuous phase transitions. Discontinuous phase transitions are normally accompanied with significant structural changes, and nearly all of them have the…
In many interesting physical settings, such as the vulcanization of rubber, the introduction of permanent random constraints between the constituents of a homogeneous fluid can cause a phase transition to a random solid state. In this…
The formation of plasma crystals confined in an external one-dimensional parabolic potential well is simulated for a normal experimental environment employing a computer code called BOXITREE. Under appropriate conditions, crystals were…
Scaling down materials to an atomic-layer level produces rich physical and chemical properties as exemplified in various two-dimensional (2D) crystals extending from graphene, transition metal dichalcogenides to black phosphorous. This is…
The sharp drops in the resistance and magnetization which are usually attributed to a phase transition from the vortex liquid state to a crystal state are explained instead as a crossover between three and two dimensional behavior, which…
The relation between thermodynamic phase transitions in classical systems and topology changes in their configuration space is discussed for a one-dimensional, analytically tractable solid-on-solid model. The topology of a certain family of…
A version of the second order phase transition theory, in which the Nernst theorem holds automatically, is proposed. The theory is constructed in terms of the order parameter and the (configurational) entropy. It faithfully reproduces the…
We introduce a class of $n$-dimensional (possibly inhomogeneous) spin-like lattice systems presenting modulated phases with possibly different textures. Such systems can be parameterized according to the number of ground states, and can be…
First-order phase transitions are commonly associated with a discontinuous behavior of some of the thermodynamic variables and the presence of a latent heat. In the present study it is shown that this is not necessarily the case. Using…
Solids produced as a result of a fast quench across a freezing or a structural transition get stuck in long-lived metastable configurations of distinct morphology, sensitively dependent on the processing history. {\it Martensites} are…
We present theory and simulation of simultaneous chemical demixing and phase ordering in a polymer-liquid crystal mixture in conditions where isotropic-isotropic phase separation is metastable with respect to isotropic-nematic phase…
Topological phases of matter are ubiquitous in crystals, but less is known about their existence in amorphous systems, that lack long-range order. In this perspective, we review the recent progress made on theoretically defining amorphous…
Solid materials are commonly classified as crystalline or amorphous based on the presence or absence of long-range order.Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), like other solids,also display markedly different properties and functions in these…
A chain of singly-charged particles, confined by a harmonic potential, exhibits a sudden transition to a zigzag configuration when the radial potential reaches a critical value, depending on the particle number. This structural change is a…
We discuss here phase transitions in quantum field theory in the context of vacuum realignment through an explicit construction. Vacuum destabilisation may occur through a scalar attaining a nonzero expectation value, or through a…