Related papers: Super-heated first order phase transitions
Topological quantum phase transitions are characterised by changes in global topological invariants. These invariants classify many body systems beyond the conventional paradigm of local order parameters describing spontaneous symmetry…
Recent advances in cooling techniques make now possible the experimental study of quantum phase transitions, which are transitions near absolute zero temperature accessed by varying a control parameter. A paradigmatic example is the…
The dynamics and thermodynamics of phase transition in hot nuclei are studied through experimental results on multifragmentation of heavy systems (A>200) formed in central heavy ion collisions. Different signals indicative of a phase…
At the first stage of reheating after inflation, parametric resonance may rapidly transfer most of the energy of an inflaton field $\phi$ to the energy of other bosons. We show that quantum fluctuations of scalar and vector fields produced…
The dynamics of weak vs. strong first order phase transitions is investigated numerically for 2+1 dimensional scalar field models. It is argued that the change from a weak to a strong transition is itself a (second order) phase transition,…
Quantum phase transitions occur at zero temperature when some non-thermal control-parameter like pressure or chemical composition is changed. They are driven by quantum rather than thermal fluctuations. In this review we first give a…
In the theory of superfluidity and superconductivity, a jump of the free energy was discovered theoretically and was naturally called a {\it zeroth-order phase transition}. We present an example of an exactly solvable problem in which such…
This paper discusses a quantum optical heating mechanism which might play an important role in sonoluminescence experiments. We suggest that this mechanism occurs during the final stages of the bubble collapse phase and accompanies the…
Dissipation inevitably occurs in first order phase transitions, leading to the irreversible heating. Conversely, the irreversible heating effect could be a clue for the first order phase transition. We measured the temperature change at the…
The finite-temperature phase diagram of the attractive Hubbard model is studied by means of the Dynamical Mean Field Theory. We first consider the normal phase of the model by explicitly frustrating the superconducting ordering. In this…
A quantum system can undergo a continuous phase transition at the absolute zero of temperature as some parameter entering its Hamiltonian is varied. These transitions are particularly interesting for, in contrast to their classical finite…
I review some numerical ways to determine the parameters of systems close to a first order phase transition point: energy and specific heat of the coexisting phases and interface tension. Numerical examples are given for the 2-d $q$ states…
Classical phase transitions, like solid-liquid-gas or order-disorder spin magnetic phases, are all driven by thermal energy fluctuations by varying the temperature. On the other hand, quantum phase transitions happen at absolute zero…
If the electroweak sector of the standard model is described by classically conformal dynamics, the early Universe evolution can be substantially altered. It is already known that---contrarily to the standard model case---a first order…
We study quantum fluctuation driven first-order phase transitions of a two-species bosonic system in a three-dimensional optical lattice. Using effective potential method we find that the superfluid-Mott insulator phase transition of one…
Heat generated as a result of the breakdown of an adiabatic process is one of the central concepts of thermodynamics. In isolated systems, the heat can be defined as an energy increase due to transitions between distinct energy levels.…
The first law of thermodynamics imposes not just a constraint on the energy-content of systems in extreme quantum regimes, but also symmetry-constraints related to the thermodynamic processing of quantum coherence. We show that this…
We consider a Hamiltonian system made of $N$ classical particles moving in two dimensions, coupled via an {\it infinite-range interaction} gauged by a parameter $A$. This system shows a low energy phase with most of the particles trapped in…
The heat flow between a quantum system and its reservoir is analyzed when initially both are in a separable thermal state and asymptotically approach a correlated equilibrium. General findings are illustrated for specific systems and…
The electronic phase diagrams of many highly correlated systems, and in particular the cuprate high temperature superconductors, are complex, with many different phases appearing with similar-sometimes identical-ordering temperatures even…