On the nucleation of hadronic domains in the quark-hadron transition

We present numerical results on bubble profiles, nucleation rates and time evolution for a weakly first-order quark-hadron phase transition in different expansion scenarios. We confirm the standard picture of a cosmological first-order phase transition, in which the phase transition is entirely dominated by nucleation. We also show that, even for expansion rates much lower than those expected in heavy-ion collisions nucleation is very unlikely, indicating that the main phase conversion mechanism is spinodal decomposition.     

Bubble dynamics in a strong first-order quark-hadron transition

We investigate the dynamics of a strong first-order quark-hadron transition driven by cubic interactions via homogeneous bubble nucleation in the Friedberg-Lee model.The one-loop effective thermodynamic potential of the model and the critical bubble profiles have been calculated at different temperatures and chemical potentials.By taking the temperature and the chemical potential as variables,the evolutions of the surface tension,the typical radius of the critical bubble,and the shift in the coarse-grained free energy in the presence of a nucleation bubble are obtained,and the limit on the reliability of the thin-wall approximation is also addressed accordingly.Our results are compared to those obtained for a weak first-order quark-hadron phase transition;in particular,the spinodal decomposition is relevant.     

Detecting a first-order transition in the QCD phase diagram with baryon–baryon correlations

We suggest baryon–baryon correlations as an experimentally accessible signature for a first-order phase transition between a baryon-rich phase, like quarkyonic, and a baryon-suppressed hadronic phase in the QCD phase diagram. We examine the consequences of baryon-rich bubble formation in an expanding medium and show how the two-particle correlations vary in the transverse and longitudinal direction depending on the strength of the radial flow, the bubble temperature, and the time when the baryons are emitted.     

Observing B-violation in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

Under certain situations, partons formed in heavy-ion collision experiments may expand out forming a shell-like structure. The partons in the outer shell subsequently hadronize, leaving a bubble of pure deconfined vacuum for a first-order quark-hadron phase transition. The bubble collapses and may eventually decay into particles which may thermalize to temperatures exceeding the electroweak transition temperature (100 GeV) at LHC. This will lead to the possibility of unsuppressed electroweak baryon number violating processes.     

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.     

Spherical and non-spherical bubbles in cosmological phase transitions

The cosmological remnants of a first-order phase transition generally depend on the perturbations that the walls of expanding bubbles originate in the plasma. Several of the formation mechanisms occur when bubbles collide and lose their spherical symmetry. However, spherical bubbles are often considered in the literature, in particular for the calculation of gravitational waves. We study the steady state motion of bubble walls for different bubble symmetries. Using the bag equation of state, we discuss the propagation of phase transition fronts as detonations and subsonic or supersonic deflagrations. We consider the cases of spherical, cylindrical and planar walls, and compare the energy transferred to bulk motions of the relativistic fluid. We find that the different wall geometries give similar perturbations of the plasma. For the case of planar walls, we obtain analytical expressions for the kinetic energy in the bulk motions. As an application, we discuss the generation of gravitational waves.     

Cosmological Two-Fluid Thermodynamics

We reveal unifying thermodynamic aspects of so different phenomena as the cosmological electron-positron annihilation, the evaporation of primordial black holes with a narrow mass range, and the "deflationary" transition from an initial de Sitter phase to a subsequent standard Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker (FLRW) behavior.     

一类新的Stückelberg全息超导模型

本文研究了含Stückelberg机理的黑洞全息超导模型. 通过选取标量场新的高阶修正形式, 建立了新的Stückelberg黑洞全息超导模型. 通过研究模型参数对标量场凝聚的影响, 发现了当模型参数大于临界值时, 高阶修正可以引起一阶相变. 同时本文还考查了反作用对临界值的影响.     

Spinodal decomposition: An alternate mechanism of phase conversion

The scenario of homogeneous nucleation is investigated for a first-order quark-hadron phase transition in a rapidly expanding background of quark gluon plasma. It is found that significant supercooling is possible before hadronization begins. This study also suggests that spinodal decomposition competes with nucleation and may provide an alternative mechanism for phase conversion.     

气泡成核过程的格子Boltzmann方法模拟

利用精确差分格子Boltzmann模型探讨水在特定温度下的亚稳态及不稳定平衡态, 获得等温相变过程中形成气泡和液滴的条件, 模型预测结果与理论解符合良好. 在该等温模型的基础上耦合能量方程, 通过调节流体-壁面相互作用力获得不同的气泡与固壁间接触角, 从而建立了一种新的描述气液相变的格子Boltzmann理论模型. 利用该新模型模拟不同流体-壁面相互作用力下凹坑气泡成核过程, 再现了气泡成核过程中的三阶段特性; 探讨了接触角、曲率半径及气泡体积随气泡成核过程的变化关系, 获得了与文献结果定性符合的曲率-气泡体积关系曲线. 关键词： 格子Boltzmann方法 气泡成核过程 气液相变 接触角     

Quantum phase transitions in the interacting boson model: integrability, level repulsion, and level crossing

We study the quantum phase transition mechanisms that arise in the interacting boson model. We show that the second-order nature of the phase transition from U(5) to O(6) may be attributed to quantum integrability, whereas all the first-order phase transitions of the model are due to level repulsion with one singular point of level crossing. We propose a model Hamiltonian with a true first-order phase transition for finite systems due to level crossings.     

Electroweak baryogenesis from late neutrino masses

Electroweak baryogenesis, given a first-order phase transition, does not work in the standard model because the quark Yukawa matrices are too hierarchical. On the other hand, the neutrino mass matrix is apparently not hierarchical. In models with neutrino mass generation at low scales, the neutrino Yukawa couplings lead to large CP violation in the reflection probability of heavy leptons by the expanding Higgs bubble wall, and can generate the observed baryon asymmetry of the universe. The mechanism predicts new vectorlike leptons below the TeV scale and sizable mu --> e processes.     

Phase transition and gravitational wave phenomenology of scalar conformal extensions of the Standard Model

Thermal corrections in classically conformal models typically induce a strong first-order electroweak phase transition, thereby resulting in a stochastic gravitational background that could be detectable at gravitational wave observatories. After reviewing the basics of classically conformal scenarios, in this paper we investigate the phase transition dynamics in a thermal environment and the related gravitational wave phenomenology within the framework of scalar conformal extensions of the Standard Model. We find that minimal extensions involving only one additional scalar field struggle to reproduce the correct phase transition dynamics once thermal corrections are accounted for. Next-to-minimal models, instead, yield the desired electroweak symmetry breaking and typically result in a very strong gravitational wave signal.     

Topology and Fragility in Cosmology

We introduce the notion of topological fragility and briefly discuss some examples from the literature. An important example of this type of fragility is the way globally anisotropic Bianchi V generalisations of the FLRW k = –1 model result in a radical restriction on the allowed topology of spatial sections, thereby excluding compact cosmological models with negatively curved three-sections with anisotropy. An outcome of this is to exclude chaotic mixing in such models, which may be relevant, given the many recent attempts at employing compact FLRW k = –1 models to produce chaotic mixing in the cosmic microwave background radiation, if the Universe turns out to be globally anisotropic.     

First-order character of the displacive structural transition in BaWO₄

Nearly all displacive transitions have been considered to be continuous or second order,and the rigid unit mode(RUM) provides a natural candidate for the soft mode.However,in-situ X-ray diffraction and Raman measurements show clearly the first-order evidences for the scheelite-to-fergusonite displacive transition in BaWO 4:a 1.6% volume collapse,coexistence of phases,and hysteresis on release of pressure.Such first-order signatures are found to be the same as the soft modes in BaWO 4,which indicates the scheelite-to-fergusonite displacive phase transition hides a deeper physical mechanism.By the refinement of atomic displacement parameters,we further show that the first-order character of this phase transition stems from a coupling of large compression of soft BaO 8 polyhedrons to the small displacive distortion of rigid WO 4 tetrahedrons.Such a coupling will lead to a deeper physical insight in the phase transition of the common scheelite-structured compounds.     

Rounding by disorder of first-order quantum phase transitions: emergence of quantum critical points

We give a heuristic argument for disorder rounding of a first-order quantum phase transition into a continuous phase transition. From both weak and strong disorder analysis of the N-color quantum Ashkin-Teller model in one spatial dimension, we find that, for N > or =3, the first-order transition is rounded to a continuous transition and the physical picture is the same as the random transverse field Ising model for a limited parameter regime. The results are strikingly different from the corresponding classical problem in two dimensions where the fate of the renormalization group flows is a fixed point corresponding to N-decoupled pure Ising models.     

Supersymmetric cosmology and running masses and coupling constants

We discuss the possibility that the phase transition to the SU(5) asymmetric phase of a supersymmetric grand unified theory occurs without bubble formation, the temperature-dependent mass squared having changed sign. When this phase transition does occur by bubble formation, we study the effect of running coupling constants and masses on the tunnelling rate. The constraints on Higgs scalar masses resulting from the requirement that the theory be asymptotically free are also discussed.     

Triple point of nuclear deformations

We show that the second-order phase transition between spherical and deformed shapes of atomic nuclei is an isolated point following from the Landau theory of phase transitions. This point can occur only at the junction of two or more first-order phase transitions which explains why it is associated with one special type of structure and requires the recently proposed first-order phase transition between prolate and oblate nuclear shapes. Finally, we suggest the first empirical example of a nucleus located at the isolated triple-point.     

Phase transitions in three-dimensional three-state Potts model

We have performed a Monte Carlo investigation of the nature of the phase transition in the three-state, three-dimensional Potts model with nearest and next nearest neighbour coupling. We find strong evidence for a first-order phase transition in the case of ferromagnetic coupling. In the case of a first neighbour ferromagnetic coupling and second neighbour antiferromagnetic, there is evidence for a second-order transition. This result supports the idea that a second-order transition can be present in systems which, according to the Landau criterium, should only undergo a first-order transition.     

Monte Carlo study of very weakly first-order transitions in the three-dimensional Ashkin-Teller model

We propose numerical simulations of the Ashkin-Teller model as a foil for theoretical techniques for studying very weakly first-order phase transitions in three dimensions. The Ashkin-Teller model is a simple two-spin model whose parameters can be adjusted so that it has an arbitrarily weakly first-order phase transition. In this limit, there are quantities characterizing the first-order transition which are universal: we measure the relative discontinuity of the specific heat, the correlation length, and the susceptibility across the transition by Monte Carlo simulation.