Related papers: Microscopic Description of Critical Bubbles
We construct the thermal bounce solution in holographic models that describes first-order phase transitions between the deconfined and confined phases in strongly-coupled gauge theories. This new, periodic Euclidean solution represents…
False-vacuum decay between two morphologically distinct supersolid phases via bubble nucleation is studied in a uniform dipolar gas confined to the plane. Starting from a metastable honeycomb state, the formation of stripe phase domains is…
We investigate the dynamics of a first-order quark-hadron transition via homogeneous thermal nucleation in the two-flavor quark-meson model. The contribution of the fermionic vacuum loop in the effective thermodynamics potential and phase…
In the framework of the Polyakov quark-meson model with two flavors, the bubble dynamics of a first-order phase transition in the region of high density and low temperature are investigated by using the homogeneous thermal nucleation…
A first order phase transition usually proceeds by nucleating bubbles of the new phase which then rapidly expand. In confining gauge theories with a gravity dual, the deconfined phase is often described by a black hole. If one starts in…
We present experimental evidence for a first-order freezing/melting phase transition in a nonequilibrium system -- an oscillated two-dimensional isobaric granular fluid. The steady-state transition occurs between a gas and a crystal and is…
A smoking gun signature for a first-order phase transition with negative speed of sound squared $c_s^2$ is the occurrence of a spinodal instability. In the gauge/gravity duality it corresponds to a Gregory-Laflamme type instability, which…
We investigate the physical properties of steady flows in a holographic first-order phase transition model, extending from the thermodynamics at equilibrium to the real-time dynamics far from equilibrium. Through spinodal decomposition or…
We introduce a novel method for calculating the size of the critical nucleus and the value of the surface tension in systems with first order phase transition. The method is based on classical nucleation theory, and it consists in studying…
We simulate the production of vortices in a first order phase transition at finite temperature. The transition is carried out by randomly nucleating critical bubbles and the effects of thermal fluctuations (which could be relevant for…
This paper investigates the importance of radiative corrections for first-order phase transitions, with particular focus on the bubble-nucleation rate. All calculations are done with a strict power-counting, and observables are consistently…
The liquid-vapor transition is a classic example of a discontinuous (first-order) phase transition. Such transitions underlie many phenomena in cosmology, nuclear and particle physics, and condensed-matter physics. They give rise to…
We revisit the phase structure and thermodynamics of QCD in the low temperature and high density region, where a strong, first-order phase transition is expected beyond the critical end point. By solving the quark gap equation in the…
Experiments have not only revealed the remarkably long lifetime of nanobubbles, but also demonstrated the diffusive instability of bubbles above micrometers, thus a full-scale physical understanding on the stability of bubbles is in urgent…
The observed cosmological constant may originate as the minimum value $U_{min}$ of a scalar field potential, where the scalar field is frozen due to a large mass. If this vacuum is metastable, it may decay to a true vacuum either at present…
Liquid crystals in two dimensions undergo a first-order isotropic-to-quasi-nematic transition, provided the particle interactions are sufficiently ``sharp and narrow''. This implies phase coexistence between isotropic and quasi-nematic…
The nucleation of bubbles in first-order phase transitions is traditionally characterised by the critical bubble: defined as the saddle-point solution of the Euclidean action that separates collapsing from expanding field configurations.…
We use holography to analyse relativistic collisions in a one-parameter family of strongly coupled gauge theories with thermal phase transitions. For a critical value of the parameter the transition is second order, for subcritical values…
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 Euclidean action is calculated in the thin-wall approximation for a first-order vacuum phase transition in which the bubble appears symmetrically around either a global monopole or a gauge cosmic string. The bubble is assumed to be much…