Chemical reaction model for coexistence of three phases

A chemical reaction model is discussed whose steady states show the phenomenon of non equilibrium phase transition of first order. If diffusion occurs, coexistence of two or three phases in different domains is possible. Phase diagram with two or three critical points and a triple point is obtained. For plane boundary layers between the domains the coexisting states are found by a construction analogous to the Maxwellian construction of vapor pressure of a Van der Waals gas. For spherical domains the coexistence dates change with radius analogously as vapor pressure of droplets or bubbles.     

Behavior of the layer compression elastic modulus near,above, and below a smectic C–hexatic I critical point in binary mixtures

We present the first study of the layer compression modulus B carried out near, above and below the Smectic C–Hexatic I critical point in racemic mixtures of methylbutyl phenyl octylbiphenyl-carboxylate (8SI) and the octyloxy biphenyl analog (8OSI), at frequencies ranging from 0.2 Hz to 2 ×103 Hz. The behavior of B as a function of temperature shows a progressive evolution from a first order transition in 8SI to a continuous supercritical behavior in 8OSI. The latter is characterized by an increase in B, which appears above the transition, and which is followed by a leveling off when the temperature is decreased towards the transition. It is proposed that this behavior stems from the relaxation of the hexatic domains which are frozen in the frequency range studied. For the supercritical and near-critical compounds, B exhibits a small dip near the transition temperature, which is visible in the low frequency range only, indicating that the dynamics associated with the critical point is very slow. We also report measurements in the Crystal-J phase of the pure compounds, and show that 8SI behaves mechanically as a hexatic phase and 8OSI as a soft crystal phase.     

Canonical Entropy and Phase Transition of Rotating Black Hole

Recently, the Hawking radiation of a black hole has been studied using the tunnel effect method. The radiation spectrum of a black hole is derived. By discussing the correction to spectrum of the rotating black hole, we obtain the canonical entropy. The derived canonical entropy is equal to the sum of Bekenstein-Havcking entropy and correction term. The correction term near the critical point is different from the one near others. This difference plays an important role in studying the phase transition of the black hole. The black hole thermal capacity diverges at the critical point. However, the canonical entropy is not a complex number at this point. Thus we think that the phase transition created by this critical point is the second order phase transition. The discussed black hole is a five-dimensional Kerr-AdS black hole. We provide a basis for discussing thermodynamic properties of a higher-dimensional rotating black hole.     

Polarization switching kinetics in ferroelectrics in the region of strong metastability

The thermodynamics and kinetics of polarization switching in ferroelectrics are studied in the framework of the field theory in the vicinity of the critical point of first-order phase transitions. The study is exemplified by the switching of intrinsic ferroelectrics with 180° domains. An expression describing the dependence of the domain critical size on the switching field is derived. The switching process is studied at high switching fields. Relationships for calculating the field dependence of the number of switched domains are obtained.     

Phase transitions of binary alloys with elastic inhomogeneity

In elastically inhomogeneous alloys, in which the shear modulus depends on the composition, coarsening in phase separation can be pinned even without quenched disorder. Here networks in the soft phase enclose the domains in the hard phase. Highly asymmetric strains in the two regions create large free energy barriers that prevent further coarsening. Thus a phase transition occurs between the one-phase and the glassy two-phase states. We numerically obtain the phase diagram and show that this transition is discontinuous at any composition. Therefore there is no critical point.     

Percolation transition in the heterogeneous vortex state of NbSe2

A percolation transition in the vortex state of a superconducting 2H-NbSe2 crystal is observed in the regime where vortices form a heterogeneous phase consisting of ordered and disordered domains. The transition is signaled by a sharp increase in critical current that occurs when the volume fraction of disordered domains reaches the value P(c) = 0.26 +/- 0.04. Measurements on different vortex states show that, while the temperature of the transition depends on history and measurement speed, the value of P(c) and the critical exponent characterizing the approach to it, r = 1.97 +/- 0.66, are universal.     

On the temperature dependence of the heterostructure period near the metal-semiconductor phase transition in a vanadium dioxide film

The effect of the nonlocality of the metallic-state instability upon the formation of semiconducting domains is considered theoretically in terms of the “strain” theory of the formation of superlattices consisting of alternating metallic and semiconducting phases in a vicinity of the critical point of the thermodynamically equilibrium phase transition metal-semiconductor in single-crystal vanadium oxide films. The above effect is shown to lead to the stabilization of a heterostructure in the region where the dimensions of the semiconducting and metallic domains are approximately equal. The obtained theoretical temperature dependence of the heterostructure period d is compared with the experimental data.     

玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚体自囚禁现象的动力学相变及其量子纠缠特性

研究了量子涨落对自囚禁现象的影响.采用玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚体(BEC)两模模型进行研究，发现有限粒子BEC系统自囚禁现象的发生同样存在临界现象，但是由于量子涨落的影响使得这个临界现象变得模糊，并且粒子数越小量子涨落的影响越明显.为了更加明确地描述有限粒子系统的自囚禁现象，通过系统各态平均占有概率的熵(简称平均熵)和平均纠缠熵来刻画自囚禁现象，并讨论自囚禁现象发生前后系统的纠缠特性. 关键词： 玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚(BEC) 自囚禁 纠缠熵     

Experimental evidence of non-Gaussian fluctuations near a critical point

The orientation fluctuations of the director of a liquid crystal are measured, by a sensitive polarization interferometer, close to the Fréedericksz transition, which is a second-order transition driven by an electric field. We show that, near the critical value of the field, the spatially averaged order parameter has a generalized Gumbel distribution instead of a Gaussian one. The latter is recovered away from the critical point. The relevance of slow modes is pointed out. The parameter of the generalized Gumbel distribution is related to the effective number of degrees of freedom.     

Singular effects of impurities near the ferromagnetic quantum-critical point

Systematic theoretical results for the effects of a dilute concentration of magnetic impurities on the thermodynamic and transport properties in the region around the quantum critical point of a ferromagnetic transition are obtained. In the quasiclassical regime, the dynamical spin fluctuations enhance the Kondo temperature. This energy scale decreases rapidly in the quantum fluctuation regime, where the properties are those of a line of critical points of the multichannel Kondo problem with the number of channels increasing as the critical point is approached, except at unattainably low temperatures where a single channel wins out.     

Experimental study of the electric-field-induced smectic A-ferroelectric smectic C critical point in binary mixtures: Approach to tricritical behavior

A system of binary mixtures of two liquid crystal compounds is prepared possessing a tricritical point in the smectic A-ferroelectric smectic C transition line in the temperature-composition plane. In several mixtures with different distinctness of the first-order nature of the transition the approximate coordinates of the electric-field-induced critical point, at which the first-order transition vanishes, are determined by measurements of the electric displacement. The critical field strength and the temperature difference between the transition at zero field and the critical point shrink to zero as the tricritical point is approached. This is the first study of the wing critical points of a tricritical point in liquid crystal phase transitions.     

Particle number scale invariant feature of the states around the critical point of the first order nuclear shape phase transition

We study systematically the evolutive behaviors of some energy ratios,E2 transition rate ratios and isomer shift in the nuclear shape phase transitions.We find that the quantities sensitive to the phase transition and independent of free parameter(s) are approximately particle number N scale invariant around the critical point of the first order phase transition,similar to that in the second order phase transition.     

Detecting topological order through a continuous quantum phase transition

We study a continuous quantum phase transition that breaks a Z2 symmetry. We show that the transition is described by a new critical point which does not belong to the Ising universality class, despite the presence of well-defined symmetry-breaking order parameter. The new critical point arises since the transition not only breaks the Z2 symmetry, it also changes the topological or quantum order in the two phases across the transition. We show that the new critical point can be identified in experiments by measuring critical exponents. So measuring critical exponents and identifying new critical points is a way to detect new topological phases and a way to measure topological or quantum orders in those phases.     

The probabilistic symmetry breaking of periodic regimes rapidly passing through a zone of chaos into the transparency window

The problem of transition of a noisy dynamical system to a periodic oscillatory regime through a zone of chaos is considered. Using the noisy logistics map as an example, domains of attraction of energetically equivalent regimes of period three are found for various transition rates and various noise levels. The fine structure of the domains of attraction under the condition of fast transitions is revealed. It is discovered that the settling time of the stable cycle of period three heavily depends on the initial conditions, i.e., on the structure of the domains of attraction. The critical transition rate that separates the region of the probabilistic symmetry of final states from the region of the dynamic behavior of trajectories is estimated.     

Phase ordering induced by defects in chaotic bistable media

The phase ordering dynamics of coupled chaotic bistable maps on lattices with defects is investigated. The statistical properties of the system are characterized by means of the average normalized size of spatial domains of equivalent spin variables that define the phases. It is found that spatial defects can induce the formation of domains in bistable spatiotemporal systems. The minimum distance between defects acts as parameter for a transition from a homogeneous state to a heterogeneous regime where two phases coexist The critical exponent of this transition also exhibits a transition when the coupling is increased, indicating the presence of a new class of domain where both phases coexist forming a chessboard pattern.     

一簇金刚石晶格上S~4模型的相变

采用重整化群和累积展开的方法,研究了一簇金刚石晶格上S~4模型的相变,求得了系统的临界点.结果表明:当分支数m=2和m 12时,该系统只存在一个Gauss不动点K~*=b_2/2, u_2~*=0;当分支数3≤m≤12时,该系统不仅有Gauss不动点,还存在一个Wilson-Fisher不动点,并且后一个不动点对系统的临界特性产生决定性的影响.     

Bubble-domain lattices in the vicinity of the compensation point

The behavior of a hexagonal lattice of bubble domains in thin uniaxial films of garnet ferrites is studied in the temperature range from the compensation point to the Néel temperature. Two types of first-order phase transitions (preserving and not preserving the total number of domains in the bubble-domain lattice) occurring with variation of the temperature were studied. It is shown that the type of a phase transition is determined by the temperature dependence of the characteristic length of the film. The existence of two types of phase transitions is explained in terms of magnetostatic pressure existing in a bubble-domain lattice.     

Surface adsorption and collapse transition of linear polymer chains

The critical behaviour of surface adsorption and collapse transition of a flexible self-attracting self-avoiding polymer chain is examined. Depending upon the underlying lattice and space dimensionality, phase diagrams that exhibit many different universality domains of critical behavior are found. We discuss these phase diagrams and the values of the critical exponents found from different theoretical methods.     

W(110)基底上的铁纳米岛初始自发磁化态的微磁学模拟

用微磁学模拟研究W(110)基底上铁纳米岛的初始自发磁化态的磁畴结构,确定了不规则形状、椭圆形和矩形岛中不同磁畴态之间的各向异性常数的临界点,得到了纳米岛的磁化态作为各向异性常数和厚度函数的完整相图,相图中存在一较宽的过渡区,把双畴态与涡旋态和菱形态分开,过渡区两侧的边界是不确定的.计算结果表明,初始自发磁化态的磁畴结构主要由各向异性及岛的厚度决定,而且岛的边沿形状对涡旋态和菱形态的磁畴结构有重要影响.准确的铁纳米岛的各向异性常数仍有待于进一步确定. 关键词： 初始自发磁化磁畴结构 铁纳米岛 微磁学模拟 各向异性     

Quantum criticality between topological and band insulators in 3+1 dimensions

Four-component massive and massless Dirac fermions in the presence of long range Coulomb interaction and chemical potential disorder exhibit striking fermionic quantum criticality. For an odd number of flavors of Dirac fermions, the sign of the Dirac mass distinguishes the topological and the trivial band insulator phases, and the gapless semimetallic phase corresponds to the quantum critical point that separates the two. Up to a critical strength of disorder, the semimetallic phase remains stable, and the universality class of the direct phase transition between two insulating phases is unchanged. Beyond the critical strength of disorder the semimetallic phase undergoes a phase transition into a disorder controlled diffusive metallic phase, and there is no longer a direct phase transition between the two types of insulating phases.