Nonmetal-to-metal transition in dense fluid helium

The nonmetal-to-metal transition in dense fluid helium is discussed, which has been, in analogy to metallization of hydrogen, predicted as first-order plasma phase transition using chemical models for the equation of state and plasma composition. However, recent ab initio simulations performed for dense fluid helium indicate that this transition is continuous in the considered regime, without a density jump and latent heat as characteristic of a first-order phase transition. Implications for some astrophysical plasmas are discussed.     

Temperature dependence of bismuth structures under high pressure

It is unclear whether there is a liquid-liquid phase transition or not in the bismuth melt at high temperature and high pressure. If so, it will be necessary to confirm the boundary of the liquid-liquid phase transition and clarify whether it is a first-order phase transition. Here, based on x-ray absorption spectra and simulations, the temperature dependence of bismuth structures is investigated under different pressures. According to the similarity of characteristic peaks of x-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectra, we estimate the possible temperature ranges of liquid-liquid phase transition to be 779-799 K at 2.74 GPa and 859-879 K at 2.78 GPa, 809-819 K at 3.38 GPa and 829-839 K at 3.39 GPa and 729-739 K at 4.78 GPa. Using ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations, we obtain the stable structures of the bismuth melt at different temperatures and pressures, and calculated their electronic structures. Meanwhile, two stable phases (phase III-like and phase IV-like) of bismuth melts are obtained from different initial phases of bismuth solids (phase III and phase IV) under the same condition (3.20 GPa and 800 K). Assuming that the bismuth melt undergoes a phase transition from IV-like to III-like between 809 K and 819 K at 3.38 GPa, the calculated electronic structures are consistent with the XANES spectra, which provides a possible explanation for the first-order liquid-liquid phase transition.     

Dissociation and dissociative phase transition in dense hydrogen

A simple physical model is proposed for dissociating dense fluid hydrogen. We propose that free dissociated atoms interact via quantum electron-electron exchange analogously to the interaction in the liquid-metal phase of alkali metals. The density dependence of a hydrogen atom’s binding energy in such a quasi-liquid is calculated. It is shown that the transition from the molecular fluid to liquid hydrogen is a first-order phase transition. The critical parameters of the transition are determined: P _c = 72 GPa, T _c = 10500 K, and ρ _c = 0.5 g/cm³. The possibility of the metastable existence of atomic liquid hydrogen in a dissociated molecular fluid under decreased pressure is established.     

Phase transition in dense low-temperature molecular gases

This work is devoted to an analysis of the thermodynamic and transport properties of high-density low-temperature gases and plasmas. The results of two independent theoretical methods are discussed and compared: path integral Monte Carlo data and results from a new chemical model which takes into account free charged particles, atoms, molecules and molecular ions. The two approaches show good agreement for the equation of state of hydrogen up to the multimegabar range. At low temperature, both show indications of a first-order phase transition. Furthermore, based on the chemical model the electrical conductivity of dense hydrogen and deuterium and the deuterium shock hugoniot are computed.     

Benchmarking vdW‐DF first‐principles predictions against Coupled Electron–Ion Monte Carlo for high‐pressure liquid hydrogen

We report first‐principles results for the nuclear structure and optical responses of high‐pressure liquid hydrogen along two isotherms in the region of molecular dissociation. We employ density functional theory with the vdW‐DF approximation (vdW) and benchmark the results against existing predictions from Coupled Electron–Ion Monte Carlo (CEIMC). At fixed density and temperature, we find that the pressure obtained from vdW is higher than that from CEIMC by about 10 GPa in the molecular insulating phase and about 20 GPa in the dissociated metallic phase. Molecules are found to be over‐stabilized using vdW, with a slightly shorter bond length and with a stronger resistance to compression. As a consequence, pressure dissociation along isotherms using vdW is more progressive than that computed with CEIMC. Below the critical point, the liquid–liquid phase transition is observed with both theories in the same density region, but the one predicted by vdW has a smaller density discontinuity, i.e. a smaller first‐order character. The optical conductivity computed using Kubo–Greenwood formulation is rather similar for the two systems and reflects the slightly more pronounced molecular character of vdW.     

Liquid polyamorphism: Possible relation to the anomalous behaviour of water

We present evidence from experiments and computer simulations supporting the hypothesis that water displays polyamorphism, i.e., water separates into two distinct liquid phases. This concept of a new liquid-liquid phase transition is finding application to other liquids as well as water, such as silicon and silica. Specifically, we investigate, the relation between changes in dynamic and thermodynamic anomalies arising from the presence of the liquid-liquid critical point in (i) Two models of water, TIP5P and ST2, which display a first order liquid-liquid phase transition at low temperatures; (ii) the Jagla model, a spherically symmetric two-scale potential known to possess a liquid-liquid critical point, in which the competition between two liquid structures is generated by repulsive and attractive ramp interactions; and (iii) A Hamiltonian model of water where the idea of two length/energy scales is built in. This model also displays a first order liquid-liquid phase transition at low temperatures besides the first order liquid-gas phase transition at high temperatures. We find a correlation between the dynamic fragility crossover and the locus of specific heat maxima C_P^max (“Widom line”) emanating from the critical point. Our findings are consistent with a possible relation between the previously hypothesised liquid-liquid phase transition and the transition in the dynamics recently observed in neutron scattering experiments on confined water. More generally, we argue that this connection between C_P^max and the dynamic crossover is not limited to the case of water, a hydrogen bonded network liquid, but is a more general feature of crossing the Widom line, an extension of the first-order coexistence line in the supercritical region. Dedicated to Armin Bunde on the occasion of his 60th birthday.     

Zero-temperature equation of state of quasi-one-dimensional H2

We have studied molecular hydrogen in a pure 1D geometry and inside a narrow carbon nanotube by means of the diffusion Monte Carlo method. The one dimensionality of H2 in the nanotube is well maintained in a large density range, this system being closer to an ideal 1D fluid than liquid 4He in the same setup. H2 shares with 4He the existence of a stable liquid phase and a quasicontinuous liquid-solid transition at very high linear densities.     

Dewetting in associating lattice gas model confined by hydrophobic walls

The phase behavior of a two dimensional fluid confined within hydrophobic walls is obtained by Monte Carlo simulations. The fluid is described by the associating lattice gas model which reproduces the density and diffusion anomalous behavior of water.The confined fluid exhibits a liquid-liquid critical temperature which decreases with the decrease of the distance between the confining walls. In contact with the wall a dewetting is observed. The thickness of this interfacial layer is independent of the distance between the two walls. Even for very small distances between the two walls no total depletion is observed and consequently no drying transition is present.     

First-principles simulations on the nature of the melting line of sodium

We report a first-principles molecular dynamics study of the reentering behavior that has been recently observed experimentally in the melting line of bcc sodium [Gregoryanz et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 185502 (2005)10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.185502]. Our results show the liquid phase to be more compressible than the solid phase, and to remain so at high pressures, eventually becoming denser than the solid phase and hence causing the change of slope in the melting line from positive to negative. The maximum of the melting line thus occurs without any accompanying first-order liquid-liquid phase transition.     

Interfacial adsorption phenomena at a weakly first-order phase transition

We study the interfacial adsorption phenomena of the ferromagnetic five-state Potts model on the square lattice, whose transition is of weakly first-order, by using Monte Carlo simulations and finite-size scaling theory. It is shown that the net-adsorption has a finite-size effect according to the first-order phase transition even for systems much smaller than the bulk correlation length.     

Liquid-liquid critical point: an analytical approach

Theoretical simulations and experimental studies have showed that many systems (like liquid metals) can exhibit two phase transitions: gas-liquid and liquid-liquid. Consequently the fluid phase of these systems presents two critical points, namely the usual gas-liquid (G-L) critical point and the liquid-liquid critical point that results from a phase transition between two liquids of different densities: a low density liquid (LDL) and a high density liquid (HDL). The van der Waals theory for simple fluids [Phys. Rev. E 50, 2913 (1994)] is based on taking a system with purely repulsive forces as a reference, is able to describe two stable first-order phase transitions between fluids of different densities. The particles in our system interact via a total pair potential, which splits into a repulsive V_R and a density-dependent attractive V_A part.     

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.     

Large decrease of fluctuations for supercooled water in hydrophobic nanoconfinement

Using Monte Carlo simulations, we study a coarse-grained model of a water layer confined in a fixed disordered matrix of hydrophobic nanoparticles at different particle concentrations c. For c=0, we find a first-order liquid-liquid phase transition (LLPT) ending in one critical point at low pressure P. For c>0, our simulations are consistent with a LLPT line ending in two critical points at low and high P. For c=25%, at high P and low temperature, we find a dramatic decrease of compressibility, thermal expansion coefficient, and specific heat. Surprisingly, the effect is present also for c as low as 2.4%. We conclude that even a small presence of hydrophobic nanoparticles can drastically suppress thermodynamic fluctuations, making the detection of the LLPT more difficult.     

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.     

Quasi-2D and prewetting transitions of square-well fluids on a square-well substrate

Molecular simulation methodologies are employed to study the first-order transition of variable square-well (SW) fluids on a wide range of weak attractive surfaces. Surface phase diagram of SW fluids of attractive well diameter λ _ff = 1.5, 1.75, 2.0 on a smooth, structureless surface modelled by a SW potential is reported via grand-canonical transition-matrix Monte Carlo (GC-TMMC) and histogram reweighting techniques. Fluids with λ _ff = 1.5 and 1.75 show quasi-2D vapour–liquid phase transition; on the other hand, prewetting transition is visible for a SW fluid with larger well-extent λ _ff = 2.0. The prewetting line, its length, and closeness to the bulk saturation curve are found to depend strongly on the nature of the fluid–fluid and fluid–wall interaction potentials. Boundary tension of surface coexistence films is calculated by two methods. First, the finite size scaling approach of Binder is used to evaluate the boundary tension via GC-TMMC. Second, the results of the boundary tension are verified by virtue of its relation to the pressure tensor components, which are calculated using a NVT-Monte Carlo approach. The results from the two methods are in good agreement. Boundary tension is found to increase with the increase in the wall–fluid interaction range for the quasi-2D system; conversely, boundary tension for thin–thick film, at prewetting transition, decreases with the increase in the wall–fluid interaction range.     

Liquid-liquid phase transition in elemental carbon: a first-principles investigation

It has been recently suggested that elemental carbon may be a promising candidate to exhibit a liquid-liquid phase transition (LLPT). We report the results of first-principles molecular dynamics simulations showing no evidence of LLPT in carbon, in the same temperature and pressure range where such a transition was found using empirical calculations. Our simulations indicate a continuous evolution from a primarily sp-bonded liquid to an sp(2)-like and an sp(3)-like fluid, as a function of pressure, above the graphite melting line. The discrepancy between quantum and classical simulations is attributed to the inability of empirical potentials to describe complex electronic effects in condensed carbon phases.     

Molecular simulation of phase coexistence in adsorption in porous solids

In this work a recently proposed method, the gauge-cell Gibbs ensemble Monte Carlo, is extended to deal with polar substances. The behaviour of water, a hydrogen bonding, weakly adsorbing fluid, is compared with that of methane, a strongly adsorbing, non-polar fluid, in the vicinity of the phase transition. The mechanisms of condensation for the two species are seen to be significantly different in nature. A systematic study of the effect of the pore width on the phase equilibrium of water is also performed. Our results show that the narrowing of the pore shifts the equilibrium transition pressure to lower values and reduces the extent of vapour metastability, but exerts little influence on the stability of the liquid phase.     

Plasma phase transition (by the fiftieth anniversary of the prediction)

At first, we present a brief review of the problem. Then, we consider plasma phase transition (PPT) as a mechanism of the first order fluid–fluid phase transition in warm dense hydrogen. The pros and cons are analysed. The properties of warm dense hydrogen are investigated by ab initio methods of molecular dynamics using the density functional theory. Strong ionization during the fluid–fluid phase transition in warm dense hydrogen makes this transition close to the prediction of the PPT. Finally, we present differences in the real phase transition from the prediction 1968–1969. Structures are observed with inter‐proton separations that are equal to the distances between protons in the and ions. The transition is not only ionization, but also structural. An analysis of the phase transition counterpart in solid hydrogen under high pressure allows us to reveal partially the character of the new structure. The ionized phase includes complex cluster ions. Van der Waals loops are of abnormal inverted form.     

Investigation of the Disordered Antiferromagnetic Ising Model with the Effects of Random Magnetic Fields

Computer simulation of phase transitions is made by the Monte Carlo method using a three-dimensional disordered antiferromagnetic Ising model in the external magnetic field. It is found that in the case where the spin concentration in a system is lower than a threshold one, the effects of random magnetic fields destroy the second-order phase transition and lead to the first-order phase transition into a new phase state of the system characterized by a ground spin-glassy state and metastable energy states at finite temperatures. The dependence of the threshold concentration on the external magnetic field is revealed.