Related papers: Phase lines in mean-field models with nonuniform e…
The nature of phase boundaries in the QCD phase diagram has not been satisfactorily explored by experiments. Based on the Ginzburg-Landau free energy with a spatially inhomogeneous term as a function of a scalar order parameter, it is…
At low temperature a thermodynamic system undergoes a phase transition when a physical parameter passes through a singularity point of the free energy, corresponding to formation of a new order. At high temperature the thermal fluctuations…
We construct the exact partition function of the Potts model on a complete graph subject to external fields with linear and nematic type couplings. The partition function is obtained as a solution to a linear diffusion equation and the free…
The hunt for exotic quantum phase transitions described by emergent fractionalized degrees of freedom coupled to gauge fields requires a precise determination of the fixed point structure from the field theoretical side, and an extreme…
Extensive studies have investigated the transition mechanism of boundary layers initiated by a single primary instability. In a real-world scenario, however, multiple primary instabilities of different physical nature would coexist and…
Phase field models have been applied in recent years to grain boundaries in single-component systems. The models are based on the minimization of a free energy functional, which is constructed phenomenologically rather than being derived…
I discuss the analytic structure of thermodynamic quantities for complex values of thermodynamic variables within Landau theory. In particular, the singularities connected with phase transitions of second order, first order and cross over…
Orbitally ordered states exhibit unique features which make them a promising platform for exploring the ultrafast dynamics of long-range order in solids: Their free energy typically has multiple discrete minima, and electric laser fields or…
The following is a thermodynamic analysis of a III order (and some aspects of a IV order) phase transition. Such a transition can occur in a superconductor if the normal state is a diamagnet. The equation for a phase boundary in an H-T (H…
We consider several types of quantum critical phenomena from finite-density gauge-gravity duality which to different degrees lie outside the Landau-Ginsburg-Wilson paradigm. These include: (1) a "bifurcating" critical point, for which the…
In certain modified gravity theories that include additional scalar degrees of freedom, compact objects such as black holes and neutron stars may undergo a process known as spontaneous scalarization, in which the scalar field is suddenly…
The interest in the topological properties of materials brings into question the problem of topological phase transitions. As a control parameter is varied, one may drive a system through phases with different topological properties. What…
In physical systems, coupling to the environment gives rise to dissipation and decoherence. For nanoscopic materials this may be a determining factor of their physical behavior. However, even for macroscopic many-body systems, if the…
We investigate the laser-induced dynamics of electronically driven charge-density-wave order. A comprehensive mean-field analysis of the attractive Hubbard model in the weak-coupling regime reveals ultrafast switching and ultrafast melting…
While most phase transformations, e.g. ferroelectric or ferromagnetic, can be first or second order depending on external applied fields, martensitic transformations in metallic alloys are nearly universally first order. We demonstrate that…
The QCD transition from a hadronic to a quark-gluon plasma phase is a cross-over at vanishing/small baryo-chemical potential, while at higher chemical potentials it is argued that it becomes of first order, ending with a critical end-point.…
Simulations show that sliding bilayers of colloidal particles can exhibit a new phase, the ``melt-freeze'' phase, where the layers stochastically alternate between solidlike and liquidlike states. We introduce a mean field phenomenological…
The time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau (TDGL) equation for a single component non-conservative structural order parameter is used to study the spatio-temporal evolution of a second phase in the vicinity of an edge dislocation in an elastic…
Many physical systems, including classical fluids, present in their phase diagram the competition between two phases that are separated by a line of first-order phase transitions which terminates at a so-called critical point. Despite…
In this paper, a phase-field model is introduced to describe the evolution of a deformable, self-propelled object driven by surface-tension effects. The model couples an Allen-Cahn-type equation, which distinguishes the body from the…