Related papers: Comment on "First order amorphous-amorphous transf…
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 molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of liquid silica, using the ``BKS'' model [Van Beest, Kramer and van Santen, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 64}, 1955 (1990)], have demonstrated that the liquid undergoes a dynamical crossover from…
Based on the analytic expression of free energy for infinitely long Ising strip with finite width joined antiperiodically on a variety of planar lattices, we show the existence of first-order phase transition at the critical point of Ising…
The well known scaling laws relating critical exponents in a second order phase transition have been generalized to the case of an arbitrarily higher order phase transition. In a higher order transition, such as one suggested for the…
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,…
We study the static and dynamic properties of liquid silica over a wide range of temperature T and density using computer simulations. The results reveal a change in the potential energy landscape as T decreases that underlies a transition…
We report about two new rigorous results on the non-analytic properties of thermodynamic potentials at first order phase transition. The first one is valid for lattice models ($d\geq 2$) with arbitrary finite state space, and finite-range…
The structure of surfaces and interfaces of silica (SiO2) is investigated by large scale molecular dynamics computer simulations. In the case of a free silica surface, the results of a classical molecular dynamics simulation are compared to…
It was recently demonstrated that the Stillinger-Weber silicon undergoes a liquid-liquid first-order phase transition deep into the supercooled region (Sastry and Angell, Nature Materials 2, 739 (2003)). Here we study the effects of…
The existence of a first-order phase transition between a low-density liquid (LDL) and a high-density liquid (HDL) forms of supercooled water has been a central and highly debated issue of physics and chemistry in the last three decades. We…
This talk reviews recent lattice results on the high $T$ electroweak phase transition. A remarkably accurate picture emerges: a) the transition is of first order for $m_H \lsim 80$GeV and vanishes for larger $m_H$; b) transition…
In this paper we revisit and extend some mathematical aspects of Onsager's theory of liquid crystals that have been investigated in recent years by different communities (statistical mechanics, analysis and probability). We introduce a…
In this letter we analyze the TAP approach to the spherical $p$-spin spin glass model in zero external field. The TAP free energy is derived by summing up all the relevant diagrams for $N\to\infty$ of a diagrammatic expansion of the free…
We use the two-flavor Linear Sigma Model with quarks as an effective description of QCD to investigate the nature of the chiral phase transition at finite baryon chemical potential and zero temperature. We work at one-loop order to set up…
We discuss several general aspects of the free energy of the standard model at high temperatures. In particular the Clausius-Clapeyron equation is shown to yield a relation between the latent heat and the jump in the order parameter. The…
Temperature-dependent x-ray diffraction of the low-dimensional spin 1/2 quantum magnet TiOCl shows that the phase transition at T_{c2} = 90 K corresponds to a lowering of the lattice symmetry. Below T_{c1} = 66 K a twofold superstructure…
We have performed a systematic study of the phase transition in the pure compact U(1) lattice gauge theory in the extended coupling parameter space (\beta, \gamma) on toroidal and spherical lattices. The observation of a non-zero latent…
Revealing phase transitions of solids through mechanical anomalies in the friction of nanotips sliding on their surfaces is an unconventional and instructive tool for continuous transitions, unexplored for first-order ones. Owing to slow…
Liquid electrolytes adsorbed at the surface of metallic electrodes display a multitude of structures that can largely differ from the parent bulk system, both in terms of composition and local organization. In particular, the existence of…
I present clear evidences that for $d$=2 a first order transition takes place when the coherence length $\xi$ becomes of the order of the lattice spacing and that this is connected with a sudden proliferation of vortices. Similar results…