Related papers: Topological phase transitions in 2-dimensional ben…
Nematic liquid crystals confined to geometrically as well as chemically patterned substrate on one end and a flat substrate with strong anchoring on the other is studied using non-Boltzmann Monte Carlo methods. We observe significant…
We investigate two-dimensional (2d) melting in the presence of a one-dimensional (1d) periodic potential as, for example, realized in recent experiments on 2d colloids subjected to two interfering laser beams. The topology of the phase…
We review the impact of tetrahedral order on the macroscopic dynamics of bent-core liquid crystals. We discuss tetrahedral order comparing with other types of orientational order, like nematic, polar nematic, polar smectic, and active polar…
The twist-bend nematic liquid crystal phase is a three-dimensional fluid in which achiral bent molecules spontaneously form an orientationally ordered macroscopically chiral heliconical winding of molecular scale pitch, in absence of…
Amorphous systems have rapidly gained promise as novel platforms for topological matter. In this work we establish a scaling theory of amorphous topological phase transitions driven by the density of lattice points in two dimensions. By…
The determination of phase behavior and, in particular, the nature of phase transitions in two-dimensional systems is often clouded by finite size effects and by access to the appropriate thermodynamic regime. We address these issues using…
Using scaled-particle theory for binary mixtures of two-dimensional hard particles with rotational freedom, we analyse the stability of nematic phases and the demixing phase behaviour of a variety of mixtures, focussing on cases where at…
For two-patch particles in two dimensions, we find that the coupling of anisotropic patchy interactions and the triangular lattice leads to novel phase behaviors. For asymmetric patch-patch (PP) and nonpatch-nonpatch (NN) interactions, the…
A cascade of phase transitions from square to hexagonal lattice is studied in 2D system of particles interacting via core-softened potential. Due to the presence of two length-scales of repulsion, different local configurations with four,…
A typical f-electron Kondo lattice system Ce exhibits the well-known isostructural transition, the so-called gamma-alpha transition, accompanied by an enormous volume collapse. Most interestingly, we have discovered that a topological-phase…
Interplay of topology and competing interactions can induce new phases and phase transitions at finite temperatures. We consider a weakly coupled two-dimensional hexatic-nematic XY model with a relative $Z_3$ Potts degrees of freedom,and…
We study by large-scale Monte Carlo simulation the $RP^3$ model, which can be regarded as an effective low-energy model of a triangular lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnet. $Z_2$ vortices appear as elementary excitations in the triangular…
Multicanonical ensemble simulations for the simulation of first-order phase transitions suffer from exponential slowing down. Monte Carlo autocorrelation times diverge exponentially with free energy barriers $\Delta F$, which in $L^d$ boxes…
Local quantum phase transitions driven by Kondo correlations have been theoretically proposed in several magnetic nanosystems; however, clear experimental signatures are scant. Modeling a nickelocene molecule on a Cu(100) substrate as a…
Topological defects are one of the most conspicuous features of liquid crystals. In two dimensional nematics, they have been shown to behave effectively as particles with both, charge and orientation, which dictate their interactions. Here,…
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…
Topological defects are an essential part of the structure and dynamics of all liquid crystals, and they are particularly important in experiments and simulations on active liquid crystals. In a recent paper, Vromans and Giomi [Soft Matter,…
The elsewhere surmised topological origin of phase transitions is given here new important evidence through the analytic study of an exactly solvable model for which both topology and thermodynamics are worked out. The model is a mean-field…
Many systems in nature and the synthetic world involve ordered arrangements of units on two-dimensional surfaces. We review here the fundamental role payed by both the topology of the underlying surface and its detailed curvature. Topology…
Understanding and controlling the director field configuration, shape, and orientation in nematic and cholesteric liquid crystals is of fundamental importance in several branches of science. Liquid crystalline droplets, also known as…