Related papers: Super-heated first order phase transitions
We describe the approach of the superconducting state as a sequence of cross-over phenomena. As the temperature is decreased, uncorrelated pairing of the electrons leads to the opening of a pseudogap at T_F^*. Upon further lowering the…
We consider non-equilibrium phenomena in a very simple model that displays a zero-temperature first-order phase transition. The quantum Ising model with a four-spin exchange is adopted as a general representative of first-order quantum…
We study the two-phase scenario following inflation, where the initial step is preheating, accompanied by a step of perturbative reheating at which inflaton field decays transferring all of its energy to create relativistic particles, the…
First order phase transitions are ubiquitous in nature, however, this notion is ambiguous and highly debated in the case of quantum systems out of thermal equilibrium. We construct a paradigmatic example which allows for elucidating the key…
We consider the $Q$-state Potts model on $\mathbb Z^d$, $Q\ge 3$, $d\ge 2$, with Kac ferromagnetic interactions and scaling parameter $\ga$. We prove the existence of a first order phase transition for large but finite potential ranges.…
We explore the phase structure of a holographic toy model of superfluid states in non-relativistic conformal field theories. At low background mass density, we find a familiar second-order transition to a superfluid phase at finite…
The most important recent results in the theory of phase transitions and quantum effects in quantum anharmonic crystals are presented and discussed. In particular, necessary and sufficient conditions for a phase transition to occur at some…
The problem of first order phase transitions in nanoscopic systems is investigated in the framework of Hill's nanothermodynamics. We obtain the equilibrium conditions and a generalized version of the Clapeyron-Clausius equation for a…
The simplified model of first-order transition in a media with frozen long-range transition-temperature disorder is considered. It exhibits the smearing of the transition due to appearance of the intermediate inhomogeneous phase with…
We study the physics of quantum phase transitions from the perspective of non-equilibrium thermodynamics. For first order quantum phase transitions, we find that the average work done per quench in crossing the critical point is…
We study nonthermal production of heavy dark matter from the dynamics of the background scalar field during a first-order phase transition, predominantly from bubble collisions. In scenarios where bubble walls achieve runaway behavior and…
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…
Collisions of vacuum bubbles in the early Universe can act as cosmic-scale high-energy colliders with energy reach close to the Planck scale. Such "cosmic colliders" would represent the most energetic phenomena in our cosmic history,…
We discuss how the thermalization of an elementary quantum system is modified when the system is placed in an environment out of thermal equilibrium. To this aim we provide a detailed investigation of the dynamics of an atomic system placed…
We demonstrate that a large class of first-order quantum phase transitions, namely, transitions in which the ground state energy per particle is continuous but its first order derivative has a jump discontinuity, can be described as a…
Materials with nanoscale phase separation are considered. A system representing a heterophase mixture of ferromagnetic and paramagnetic phases is studied. After averaging over phase configurations, a renormalized Hamiltonian is derived…
The origins of matter and radiation in the universe lie in a Hot Big Bang. We present a number of well-motivated cosmologies in which the Big Bang occurs through a strong first order phase transition -- either at the end of inflation, after…
First order quantum phase transitions (1QPTs) are signaled, in the thermodynamic limit, by discontinuous changes in the ground state properties. These discontinuities affect expectation values of observables, including spatial correlations.…
We provide a description of phase transitions at finite temperature in strongly coupled field theories using holography. For this purpose, we introduce a general class of gravity duals to superconducting theories that exhibit various types…
Common wisdom dictates that physical systems become less ordered when heated to higher temperature. However, several systems display the opposite phenomenon and move to a more ordered state upon heating, e.g. at low temperature…