Critical behavior of the de gennes elastic constants near the nematic-smectic- A transition of TBBA

We have studied the behavior of elastic constants A, B, and C deduced from ultrasound velocity anisotropies in the vicinity of the nematic-smectic- A transition of terephthal-bis- p- p(')-butylaniline. A is associated with compressibility, B with layer compression, and C with the coupling between compressibility and layer compression. We show that the exponent of A is of the preasymptotic 3D- XY type, whereas those of B and C are in between the 3D- XY values and those associated with the anisotropic fixed point. This behavior is consistent with the extended crossover regime predicted by Patton and Andereck [Phys. Rev. Lett. 69, 1556 (1992)].     

Baryogenesis at the weak phase transition

The weak phase transition of the hot big bang can produce quarks, leptons and weak bosons which are out of thermal equilibrium. In a simple extension of the standard model it is shown that the reactions following top quark decays can generate the cosmological baryon asymmetry. The top quark mass must be close to 80 GeV and the Higgs boson must be lighter than 1 GeV. This baryogenesis mechanism can be directly tested at e⁺e⁻ and hadron collider by searching for spectacular events containing six or more bottom quarks and a violation of baryon number at the decay vertex of a long lived neutral particle.     

Mott effect and J/\psi dissociation at the quark-hadron phase transition

We investigate the in-medium modification of pseudoscalar and vector mesons in a QCD-motivated chiral quark model by solving the Dyson-Schwinger equations for quarks and mesons at finite temperature for a wide mass range of meson masses, from light ( , ) to open-charm (D, D ^*) states. At the chiral/deconfinement phase transition, the quark-antiquark bound states enter the continuum of unbound states and become broad resonances (hadronic Mott effect). We calculate the in-medium cross-sections for charmonium dissociation due to collisions with light hadrons in a chiral Lagrangian approach, and show that the D- and D ^*-meson spectral broadening lowers the threshold for charmonium dissociation by - and -mesons. This leads to a step-like enhancement in the reaction rate. We suggest that this mechanism for enhanced charmonium dissociation may be the physical mechanism underlying the anomalous suppression observed by NA50.Received: 30 September 2002, Published online: 22 October 2003PACS: 05.20.Dd Kinetic theory - 12.38.Mh Quark-gluon plasma - 14.40.-n Mesons - 25.75.Nq Quark deconfinement, quark-gluon plasma production, and phase transitions     

Localized states at the helicoidal phase transition

The appearence of a new type of localized states at the helicoidal transition is predicted. The order parameter decays with an oscillation in the vicinity of the defect provoking the localized transition. The cases of point, linear, and planar defects are considered, and the specific heat jumps are calculated. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 65, No. 10, 776–781 (25 May 1997) Published in English in the original Russian journal. Edited by Steve Torstveit.     

Numerical tests of the electroweak phase transition and thermodynamics of the electroweak plasma

The finite temperature phase transition in the SU(2) Higgs model at a Higgs boson mass M_H ≅ 34 GeV is studied in numerical simulations on four-dimensional lattices with time-like extensions up to L_t = 5. The effects of the finite volume and finite lattice spacing on masses and couplings are studied in detail. The errors due to uncertainties in the critical hopping parameter are estimated. The thermodynamics of the electroweak plasma near the phase transition is investigated by determining the relation between energy density and pressure.     

Calculation of the volume effect at an electron phase transition in pure cerium and praseodymium

The experimental values of the volume effect at an electronic phase transition in several rare-earth metals are discussed. Specifically, volume changes at phase transitions in cerium and praseodymium are calculated using a semiphenomenological relationship derived in terms of the Falikov-Ramirez-Kimball model. A number of factors influencing the amount of the volume effect at electronic phase transitions are analyzed.     

The effect of the heating rate on the phase transition

ABSTRACT

The simple cubic spin-1 Ising model exhibits the ferromagnetic (F)–ferromagnetic (F) phase transition in the low temperature region for the interval 1.40 < d = D/J < 1.48 at k = K/J = –0.5. The degree of the F-F phase transition determines the special point on the (k_BT/J, d) phase diagram. In this paper, the critical behavior of the F-F phase transition was investigated for different heating rates using the cellular automaton heating algorithm. The universality class and the type of F-F phase transition were analyzed using the finite-size scaling theory and the power law relations. The results show that the F-F phase transition may be the second order, the first order or the weak first order depending on the heating rate in the interval 1.40 < d < 1.48 for k = –0.5.     

Universal scaling of the conductivity at the superfluid-insulator phase transition

The scaling of the conductivity at the superfluid-insulator quantum phase transition in two dimensions is studied by numerical simulations of the Bose-Hubbard model. In contrast to previous studies, we focus on properties of this model in the experimentally relevant thermodynamic limit at finite temperature T. We find clear evidence for deviations from omega k scaling of the conductivity towards omega k/T scaling at low Matsubara frequencies omega k. By careful analytic continuation using Padé approximants we show that this behavior carries over to the real frequency axis where the conductivity scales with omega/T at small frequencies and low temperatures. We estimate the universal dc conductivity to be sigma* = 0.45(5)Q2/h, distinct from previous estimates in the T = 0, omega/T > 1 limit.     

Vacuum phase transition at nonzero baryon density

It is argued that the dominant contribution to the interaction of quark–gluon plasma at moderate T?Tc$T?T_c$ is given by the nonperturbative vacuum field correlators. Basing on that nonperturbative equation of state of quark–gluon plasma is computed and in the lowest approximation expressed in terms of absolute values of Polyakov lines for quarks and gluons Lfund(T),Ladj(T)=(Lfund)^9/4$L_{\mathrm{fund}}(T),L_{\mathrm{adj}}(T)={(L_{\mathrm{fund}})}^{9/4}$ known from lattice and analytic calculations. Phase transition at any μ   is described as a transition due to vanishing of one of correlators, DE(x)$D^E(x)$, which implies the change of gluonic condensate ΔG₂$\mathrm{\Delta }{G}_2$. Resulting transition temperature Tc(μ)$T_c(\mu )$ is calculated in terms of ΔG₂$\mathrm{\Delta }{G}_2$ and Lfund(Tc)$L_{\mathrm{fund}}(T_c)$. The phase curve Tc(μ)$T_c(\mu )$ is in a good agreement with lattice data. In particular Tc(0)=0.27$T_c(0)=0.27$; 0.19; 0.17 GeV$0.17\text{ GeV}$ for nf=0,2,3$n_f=0,2,3$ and fixed ΔG₂=0.0035 GeV⁴$\mathrm{\Delta }{G}_2=0.0035{\text{ GeV}}^4$.     

Exploring symmetry breaking at the Dicke quantum phase transition

We study symmetry breaking at the Dicke quantum phase transition by coupling a motional degree of freedom of a Bose-Einstein condensate to the field of an optical cavity. Using an optical heterodyne detection scheme, we observe symmetry breaking in real time and distinguish the two superradiant phases. We explore the process of symmetry breaking in the presence of a small symmetry-breaking field and study its dependence on the rate at which the critical point is crossed. Coherent switching between the two ordered phases is demonstrated.     

Dynamical conductivity at the dirty superconductor-metal quantum phase transition

We study the transport properties of ultrathin disordered nanowires in the neighborhood of the superconductor-metal quantum phase transition. To this end we combine numerical calculations with analytical strong-disorder renormalization group results. The quantum critical conductivity at zero temperature diverges logarithmically as a function of frequency. In the metallic phase, it obeys activated scaling associated with an infinite-randomness quantum critical point. We extend the scaling theory to higher dimensions and discuss implications for experiments.     

Size-dependent nanodiamond-graphite phase transition at 8 GPa

The size-dependent diamond-graphite phase transition was detected in the course of a study of the growth of nanosized diamond particles under conditions of thermal treatment at 8 GPa. It was found that a critical size of diamond nanoparticles, on reaching which they transformed into graphite, was reached at 1623 K and a treatment time of 60 s, and it was equal to ～18 nm. The activation energy of the solid-phase growth of nanosized diamond particles at 8 GPa was determined to be 112±8 kJ/mol.     

Non-Abelian global strings at chiral phase transition

We construct non-Abelian global string solutions in the UL_(N)×UR_(N)$U{(N)}_{\mathrm{L}}\times U{(N)}_{\mathrm{R}}$ linear sigma model. These strings are the most fundamental objects which are expected to form during the chiral phase transitions, because the Abelian η^′${\eta }^{\prime }$ string is marginally decomposed into N   of them. We point out Nambu–Goldstone modes of CPN−1$\mathbf{C}{P}^{N-1}$ for breaking of SUV_(N)$\mathit{SU}{(N)}_{\mathrm{V}}$ arise around a non-Abelian vortex.     

Two kinds of phase transition in 1-D backward scattering

The one-dimensional Fermion system with backward scattering has been analyzed by use of the methods of bosonization and Gaussian wave functional. We find that there exist two kinds of phase transitions in the spin density degree according to the interaction parameters: one is a Kosterlitz-Thouless type transition and the other is a first order phase transition when backward scattering becomes sufficiently strong.     

Critical bubbles and fluctuations at the electroweak phase transition

We discuss the critical bubbles of the electroweak phase transition using an effective high-temperature 3-dimensional action for the Higgs field ϕ. The separate integration of gauge and Goldstone boson degrees of freedom is conveniently described in the 't Hooft-Feynman covariant background gauge. The effective dimensionless gauge coupling g3 (T) z in the broken phase is well behaved throughout the phase transition. However, the behavior of the one-loop Z(ϕ) factors of the Higgs and gauge kinetic terms signalizes the breakdown of the derivative expansion and of the perturbative expansion for a range of small ϕ values increasing with the Higgs mass m_H Taking a functional S_z [ϕ] with constant Z(ϕ) = z instead of the full non-local effective action in some neighborhood of the saddle point we are calculating the critical bubbles for several temperatures. The fluctuation determinant is calculated to high accuracy using a variant of the heat kernel method. It gives a strong suppression of the transition rate compared to previous estimates.     

Superconducting proximity effect at the paramagnetic-ferromagnetic transition

The exchange-enhanced electron-electron interactions at the paramagnetic-ferromagnetic transition were studied experimentally via proximity effect tunneling spectroscopy. By solving the Usadel equations in both the paramagnetic and ferromagnetic states, the electron-spin fluctuation coupling constant and the exchange field are derived from the tunneling spectra.     

Elastic and photoelastic anomalies at the phase transition of chloranil

Brillouin scattering experiments on chloranil reveal important elastic and photoelastic anomalies associated to the displacive transition at 93 K. The kind of anomaly is characteristic of a quadratic coupling of the order parameter with the elastic strains; a maximum of this coupling is found for e₁.