A phenomenological theory of possible sequences of ferrotoroidal phase transitions in boracites

A phenomenological theory of the sequence of two second-order phase transitions with close temperatures is considered; such transitions occur in the Ni-Br boracite. The thermodynamic potential is written as a function of polarization P _i, magnetization M _i, and toroidal moment T _i vectors and fields E _i and H _i; T _i is treated as an order parameter. It is assumed that only one coefficient of T _i ² passes through zero as T decreases. The possibility of a sequence of two proper ferrotoroidal phase transitions along the T ₁ and T ₂ components is demonstrated. Spontaneous T _i, P _i, and M _i vector values and equations for susceptibility tensors (dielectric χ _ij = dP _i/dE _j, magnetic k _ij = dM _i/dH _j, and magnetoelectric α_ij = dP _i/dH _j = dM _j/dE _i) were obtained for three phases. Some of these values have well-defined anomalies in the vicinity of transitions. All possible sequences of ferrotoroidal phase transitions in boracites are considered. Depending on two potential coefficient values, these sequences may consist of one, two, or three such transitions.     

Phenomenological theory of the magnetoelectric effect in some boracites

An explanation is given for the narrow peak in the temperature dependence of the component α ₃₂ of the magnetoelectric effect tensor near the transition at T=T _c to the m′m2′ phase observed in the boracites. A phenomenological approach is used which is based on the symmetry of the cubic phase of the crystals. The change in the sign of α ₂₃ and α ₃₂ observed in some of the boracites as the temperature is lowered is attributed to the low value of T _c. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 111, 536–546 (February 1997)     

A first-order level-2 phase transition in thermodynamic formalism

We show the existence of a phase transition at the level of measures for the generalized dimension of the maximal entropy measure in a model that was considered by F. Hofbauer and which is related to a model of M. Fisher. The model presented here is related to the one-dimensional Ising model in which a wall effect is assumed. In this situation, the problem has to be considered in the one-dimensional lattice . In general there is no first-order transition for the Ising model in the lattice , but under our assumptions such transitions can occur. The Ising model has the purpose of explaining the magnetization of ferromagnetic systems at low temperatures. The main difference of our result from a previous result of F. Hofbauer is that the transition is analyzed in the setting of the generalized dimension. This setting is more closely related to the observables. The main purpose of this paper is to explain another mathematical model for phase transition using the mathematical results obtained by F. Hofbauer. We also use results of the thermodynamic formalism in an essential way.     

Symmetry aspect of the phase transitions in boracites

The phase transitions in boracites are analysed by using the group-theoretical formulation of the Landau theory of phase transitions. It is shown that the orthorhombic, monoclinic and trigonal phase transitions could be induced by the same irreducible representation of the space groupT _d ⁵ with the star determined by the wave vectork=1/2(b ₁+b ₂). The corresponding free energy function is constructed and the symmetry of normal modes is discussed.The authors thank Dr. V. Janovec of the Institute of Physics for valuable remarks to this paper.     

Is the percolation transition of hard spheres a thermodynamic phase transition?

In hard-sphere systems, there is a fluid-solid transition, but no gas-liquid transition. In the fluid region, however, one can find a purely geometric percolation transition, which is studied in detail. The van der Waals model of hard spheres is treated. In this model, a uniform negative background potential is added. This modification does not change the structure, but induces a gas-liquid transition. In fact, percolation and the gas-liquid transition can be related to each other.     

Investigations of phase transition, elastic and thermodynamic properties of GaP by using the density functional theory

The phase transition of gallium phosphide (GaP) from zinc-blende (ZB) to a rocksalt (RS) structure is investigated by the plane-wave pseudopotential density functional theory (DFT). Lattice constant a₀, elastic constants c_ij, bulk modulus B₀ and the pressure derivative of bulk modulus B₀' are calculated. The results are in good agreement with numerous experimental and theoretical data. From the usual condition of equal enthalpies, the phase transition from the ZB to the RS structure occurs at 21.9 GPa, which is close to the experimental value of 22.0 GPa. The elastic properties of GaP with the ZB structure in a pressure range from 0 GPa to 21.9 GPa and those of the RS structure in a pressure range of pressures from 21.9 GPa to 40 GPa are obtained. According to the quasi-harmonic Debye model, in which the phononic effects are considered, the normalized volume V/V₀, the Debye temperature θ, the heat capacity C_v and the thermal expansion coefficient α are also discussed in a pressure range from 0 GPa to 40 GPa and a temperature range from 0 K to 1500 K.     

A phenomenological theory of the isotropic to chiral smectic-C phase transition

In this paper we discuss the direct isotropic to chiral smectic-C phase transition on the basis of a phenomenological theory. The model free energy is written in terms of the coupled order parameters including the spontaneous polarization. We present a detailed analysis of the different phases that can occur and analyze the question under which conditions a direct isotropic to chiral smectic-C phase transition is possible when compared to other phase transitions. On the basis of this model the isotropic-smectic-C^* transition is always of first order. The theoretical predictions are compared with the available experimental results.-1     

AlAs相变及热动力学性质的第一性原理研究

利用基于密度泛函理论的全势能线性糕模轨函法研究了闪锌矿（B3）,NiAs（B8）和岩盐（B1）结构的AlAs的相变、结构性质以及热动力学性质.对B3-B8和B3-B1结构的能量体积曲线做公切线,得到了B3→B8相变压力为5.44 GPa,并预测到B3→B1相变压力为6.46 GPa.同时计算了高压下B8相的结构性质,结果显示当V/V₀≈0.7—1.05时,c/a基本保持恒定（仅有约 0.2%的波动）;当V/V₀≈0.4—0.7,c/a随着V/V₀的减小而近似线性地增大.通过状态方程拟合,得到了AlAs的相对体积V/V₀与压强P的函数关系,B8相的状态方程与实验结果符合很好.最后利用准谐德拜模型得到了AlAs的体弹模量B随压力P的变化关系以及不同压强下热容C_V与温度T的关系. 关键词： 相变 热力学性质 第一性原理     

Chiral phase transition from string theory

The low energy dynamics of a certain D-brane configuration in string theory is described at weak t'Hooft coupling by a nonlocal version of the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model. We study this system at finite temperature and strong t'Hooft coupling, using the string theory dual. We show that for sufficiently low temperatures chiral symmetry is broken, while for temperatures larger then the critical value, it gets restored. We compute the latent heat and observe that the phase transition is of the first order.     

On the mean-field theory of the metal-insulator phase transition

Two mean-field models describing the metal-insulator phase transition are studied. In the model due to Keldysh and Kopaev (1964) different effective masses in the valence and conduction bands are considered and in the model due to Mattis and Langer (1970) the exact s.c. and b.c.c. densities of states are taken into account. It is shown that these modifications do not change the qualitative features of the phase diagrams. In each case a special attention is paid to the domain of the degenerate semiconductor, which has been of primary interest in many attempts to explain conjectured enhancement of superconductivity in systems undergoing dielectric transition.     

First-principles calculations for transition phase and thermodynamic properties of GaAs

The transition phase of GaAs from the zincblende (ZB) structure to the rocksalt (RS) structure is investigated by ab initio plane-wave pseudopotential density functional theory method, and the thermodynamic properties of the ZB and RS structures are obtained through the quasi-harmonic Debye model. It is found that the transition from the ZB structure to the RS structure occurs at the pressure of about 16.3\,GPa, this fact is well consistent with the experimental data and other theoretical results. The dependences of the relative volume V/V₀ on the pressure P, the Debye temperature \Th and specific heat C_V on the pressure P, as well as the specific heat C_V on the temperature T are also obtained successfully.     

Characteristics of the thermodynamic and kinetic properties of NbH0.83 in the phase transition region

Measurements were made of the specific heat (in the temperature range 80–400 K), electrical resistivity (4.2–300 K), thermo-emf (4.2–300 K), thermal conductivity (7–300 K), magnetic susceptibility (4.2–400 K), and lattice parameters (30–300 K) of the alloy NbH_0.83. The λ′→λβ phase transitions were studied. It was established that the structure of the niobium matrix of the hydride remains unchanged as a result of these transitions. It is shown that the β→λ phase transition (one-dimensional hydrogen ordering) is a three-stage one and is accompanied by a substantial change in the shear modulus of the hydride. The λ′ phase existing at T<110 K was determined. The electron thermal conductivity κ_el calculated for the λ′ phase in the range T<23 K is 25% higher than the measured thermal conductivity. In order to explain this fact and also the discontinuity in the concentration dependence of the coefficient of thermal expansion of NbHx for x?0.83–0.84 and the approximately 1.5% compression of the NbH_0.84 volume it is assumed that in the region of x _c in the λ′ phase the topology of the Fermi surface of the NbH_x interstitial alloy changes substantially.     

Yang-Lee theory for a nonequilibrium phase transition

To analyze phase transitions in a nonequilibrium system, we study its grand canonical partition function as a function of complex fugacity. Real and positive roots of the partition function mark phase transitions. This behavior, first found by Yang and Lee under general conditions for equilibrium systems, can also be applied to nonequilibrium phase transitions. We consider a one-dimensional diffusion model with periodic boundary conditions. Depending on the diffusion rates, we find real and positive roots and can distinguish two regions of analyticity, which can be identified with two different phases. In a region of the parameter space, both of these phases coexist. The condensation point can be computed with high accuracy.     

Ginzburg-Landau theory for higher order phase transition

Ginzburg-Landau theory for studying phase transitions of higher order has been derived using coarse graining and lattice formulation within Ehrenfest thermodynamics. Our developed Hamiltonian leads directly to the functional of the system. We studied the evolution of the order parameter using our developed model equations for third and fourth order phase transitions. The periodic nature of the system can be likened to spatially varying periodic soliton/antisoliton lattice of holes in condensate. This is different from what one observes for any conventional solitary wave in the second order phase regime.     

On the theory of the phase transition ice VII-ice VIII

A model for the ice VII- ice VIII phase transition is proposed and solved. The cluster approximation having a high accuracy in describing the systems obeying the ice rule is used. For the realistic values of the model parameters the phase transition is of the first order and the order parameter jump is close to the saturation value.