Related papers: Delayed nucleation in lipid particles
We discuss the need for discretization to evaluate the configurational entropy in a general model. We also discuss the prescription using restricted partition function formalism to study the stationary limit of metastable states. We…
We propose and explore a new finite temperature phase of translationally invariant multi-component liquids which we call a "Quantum Disentangled Liquid" (QDL) phase. We contemplate the possibility that in fluids consisting of two (or more)…
Nucleation plays a critical role in the birth of crystals and is associated with a vast array of phenomena such as protein crystallization and ice formation in clouds. Despite numerous experimental and theoretical studies, many aspects of…
Crystals form regular and robust structures that under extreme conditions can melt and recrystallize into different arrangements in a process that is called crystal metamorphism. While crystals exist due to the breaking of a continuous…
Phase separation and transitions among different molecular states are ubiquitous in living cells. Such transitions can be governed by local equilibrium thermodynamics or by active processes controlled by biological fuel. It remains largely…
Melting is typically viewed as a bulk first-order phase transition that proceeds once nucleation barriers are overcome. Here we demonstrate an interfacially arrested melting regime in molecularly thin crystalline films, where large liquid…
Non-aligning self-propelled particles with purely repulsive excluded volume interactions undergo athermal motility-induced phase separation into a dilute gas and a dense cluster phase. Here, we use enhanced sampling computational methods…
It is demonstrated by analyzing real examples that phase transitions in layered crystals occur like all other solid-state phase transitions by nucleation and crystal growth, but have a specific morphology. There the nucleation is epitaxial,…
How do solute concentration and molecular chemistry govern the transition from membrane saturation to destabilization? We address this using microsecond-scale molecular dynamics simulations of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) bilayers…
The Frimmer-Novotny model to simulate two-level systems by coupled oscillators is extended by incorporating a constant time delay in the coupling. The effects of the introduced delay on system dynamics and two-level modeling are then…
The ability to manipulate polar entities with multiple external fields opens exciting possibilities for emerging functionalities and novel applications in spin systems, photonics, metamaterials, and soft matter. Liquid crystals (LCs),…
We overview the concept of dynamical phase transitions in isolated quantum systems quenched out of equilibrium. We focus on non-equilibrium transitions characterized by an order parameter, which features qualitatively distinct temporal…
Water shows intriguing thermodynamic and dynamic anomalies in the supercooled liquid state. One possible explanation of the origin of these anomalies lies in the existence of a metastable liquid-liquid phase transition (LLPT) between two…
Dense protein clusters are known to play an important role in nucleation of protein crystals from dilute solutions. While these have generally been thought to be formed from a metastable phase, the observation of similar, if not identical,…
We investigated the phase separation of dioleoylphosphatidylserine (DOPS) and dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) in giant unilamellar vesicles in hypotonic solution using fluorescence and confocal laser scanning microscopy. Although…
We present an experiment on crystallization of packings of macroscopic granular spheres. This system is often considered to be a model for thermally driven atomic or colloidal systems. Cyclically shearing a packing of frictional spheres, we…
There is a long-standing experimental observation that the melting of topologically constrained DNA, such as circular-closed plasmids, is less abrupt than that of linear molecules. This finding points to an intriguing role of topology in…
The cubic blue phases of liquid crystals are fascinating and technologically promising examples of hierarchically structured soft materials, comprising ordered networks of defect lines (disclinations) within a liquid crystalline matrix. We…
The process of homogeneous crystal nucleation has been considered in a model liquid, where the interparticle interaction is described by a short-range spherical oscillatory potential. Mechanisms of initiating structural ordering in the…
The primary distinction between solid and liquid phases is mechanical rigidity, with liquids having a disordered atomic structure that allows flow. While melting is a common phase transition, its microscopic mechanisms still remain unclear.…