CRITICAL SCALING THEORY OF GENERALIZED PHASE TRANSITION AND ITS UNIVERSALITY

Generalized phase transition (GPT) refers to the transition process of material systems from one steady-state to another. It includes equilibrium phase transition (EPT) and nonequilibrium phase transition (NPT), and phase transitions intermediate between them. In this paper some results on the study of critical scaling relations of the NPT and EPT are obtained. We developed the critical scaling theory of EPT and advanced a universal critical scaling theory of GPT. The critical scaling relations(scaling laws) has more niversality. The critical exponents calculated from our theory are identical with the results of experiments and other theories about EPT and NPT systems. Because the basic model of the theory does not depend on the concrete material system, it has a certain unversality. Its results thus can be applied to generlized phase transition systems, such as the electrorheological fluid and magnetorheological fluid systems.