Related papers: Phase structure of self-gravitating systems
A wide variety of complex systems exhibit large fluctuations both in space and time that often can be attributed to the presence of some kind of critical phenomena. Under such critical scenario it is well known that the properties of the…
We study the order of the phase transition in the 3d U(1)+Higgs theory, which is the Ginzburg-Landau theory of superconductivity. We confirm that for small scalar self-coupling the transition is of first order. For large scalar…
First- and second-order temperature driven transitions are studied, in a lattice gas driven by an oscillatory field. The short time dynamics study provides upper and lower bounds for the first-order transition points obtained using standard…
The critical behavior of many physical systems involves two competing $n^{}_1-$ and $n^{}_2-$component order-parameters, ${\bf S}^{}_1$ and ${\bf S}^{}_2$, respectively, with $n=n^{}_1+n^{}_2$. Varying an external control parameter $g$,…
During the past two decades, cosmologists turned to particle physics in order to explore the physics of the very early Universe. The main link between the physics of the smallest and largest structures in the Universe is the idea of…
Non-equilibrium phase transitions of a scalar field in an expanding spacetime are discussed. These transitions are shown to lead, for appropriate potential energy functions, to a biased choice of vacuum structure which can be analytically…
Non-equilibrium phase transitions exist in damped-driven open quantum systems, when the continuous tuning of an external parameter leads to a transition between two robust steady states. In second-order transitions this change is abrupt at…
We consider a model of free fermions in a ladder geometry coupled to a nonuniform cavity mode via Peierls substitution. Since the cavity mode generates a magnetic field, no-go theorems on spontaneous photon condensation do not apply, and we…
Hyperuniform states are an efficient way to fill up space for disordered systems. In these states the particle distribution is disordered at the short scale but becomes increasingly uniform when looked at large scales. Hyperuniformity…
We consider first-order phase transitions of the Universe in the radiation-dominated era. We argue that in general the velocity of interfaces is non-relativistic due to the interaction with the plasma and the release of latent heat. We…
By analyzing a paradigmatic example of the theory of dissipative systems -- the classical and quantum dissipative standard map -- we are able to explain the main features of the decay to the quantum equilibrium state. The classical…
The physics of the inflationary universe requires the study of the out of equilibrium evolution of quantum fields in curved spacetime. We present the evolution for both the geometry and the matter (described by the quantum inflaton field)…
Pareto selective forces optimize several targets at the same time, instead of single fitness functions. Systems subjected to these forces evolve towards their Pareto front, a geometrical object akin to the thermodynamical Gibbs surface and…
First-order irreversible phase transitions (IPT's) between an active regime and an absorbing state are studied in two models by means of both simulations and mean-field stability analysis. Hysteresis around coexistence is the result of the…
Causal Dynamical Triangulations (CDT) is a proposal for a theory of quantum gravity, which implements a path-integral quantization of gravity as the continuum limit of a sum over piecewise flat spacetime geometries. We use Monte Carlo…
A new approach to the measurement of gravitational fields with an equilibrium ensemble of ultra-cold alkali atoms confined in a cell of volume $V$ is investigated. The proposed model of the gravitational sensor is based on a variation of…
Electromagnetic and gravitational central-field problems are studied with relativistic quantum mechanics on curved space-time backgrounds. Corrections to the transition current are identified. Analogies of the gravitational and…
A first order phase transition for photons and gravitons in a Casimir box is studied analytically from first principles with a detailed understanding of symmetry breaking due to the boundary conditions. It is closely related to…
The classification of the ground-state phases of complex one-dimensional electronic systems is considered in the context of a fixed-point strategy. Examples are multichain Hubbard models, the Kondo-Heisenberg model, and the one-dimensional…
The universe is found to have undergone several phases in which the gravitational constant had different behaviors. During some epochs the energy density of the universe remained constant and the universe remained static. In the radiation…