Generalized transport model for phase transition with memory

A general model for phenomenological transport in phase transition is derived, which extends Jäckle and Frisch model of phase transition with memory and the Cahn–Hilliard model. In addition to including interfacial energy to account for the presence of interfaces, we introduce viscosity and relaxation contributions, which result from incorporating memory effect into the driving potential. Our simulation results show that even without interfacial energy term, the viscous term can lead to transient diffuse interfaces. From the phase transition induced hysteresis, we discover different energy dissipation mechanism for the interfacial energy and the viscosity effect. In addition, by combining viscosity and interfacial energy, we find that if the former dominates, then the concentration difference across the phase boundary is reduced; conversely, if the interfacial energy is greater then this difference is enlarged.     

Bulk-viscosity-driven freeze-out in heavy ion collision

We give a review on the HBT puzzle, and argue that its resolution requires the introduction of new physics close to the phase transition scale. We argue that a candidate for this new physics is bulk viscosity, recently postulated to peak, and even diverge, close to the phase transition temperature. We show that such a viscosity peak can force the system created in heavy ion collisions to become unstable, and filament into fragments whose size is weakly dependent on the global size of the system, thereby triggering freeze-out.     

Viscosity effects in foam drainage: Newtonian and non-newtonian foaming fluids

We have studied the drainage of foams made from Newtonian and non-Newtonian solutions of different viscosities. Forced-drainage experiments first show that the behavior of Newtonian solutions and of shear-thinning ones (foaming solutions containing either Carbopol or Xanthan) are identical, provided one considers the actual viscosity corresponding to the shear rate found inside the foam. Second, for these fluids, a drainage regime transition occurs as the bulk viscosity is increased, illustrating a coupling between surface and bulk flow in the channels between bubbles. The properties of this transition appear different from the ones observed in previous works in which the interfacial viscoelasticity was varied. Finally, we show that foams made of solutions containing long flexible PolyEthylene Oxide (PEO) molecules counter-intuitively drain faster than foams made with Newtonian solutions of the same viscosity. Complementary experiments made with fluids having all the same viscosity but different responses to elongational stresses (PEO-based Boger fluids) suggest an important role of the elastic properties of the PEO solutions on the faster drainage.     

Rapidity correlations of protons from a fragmented fireball

We investigate proton rapidity correlations for a fireball that fragments due to non-equilibrium effects at the phase transition from the deconfined to the hadronic phase. Such effects include spinodal fragmentation in the case of a first-order phase transition at lower collision energies and cavitation due to the sudden rise of the bulk viscosity at the crossover probed at RHIC and at the LHC. Our study is performed on samples of Monte Carlo events. The correlation function in relative rapidity appears to be a sensitive probe of fragmentation. We show that resonance decays make the strength of the correlation even stronger.     

Transport coefficients of a massive pion gas

We review our main results concerning the transport coefficients of a light meson gas,in particular we focus on the case of a massive pion gas.Leading order results according to the chiral power-counting are presented for the DC electrical conductivity,thermal conductivity,shear viscosity,and bulk viscosity.We also comment on the possible correlation between the bulk viscosity and the trace anomaly in QCD,as well as the relation between unitarity and a minimum of the quotient η/s near the phase transition.     

Bulk viscosity of low-temperature strongly interacting matter

We study the bulk viscosity of a pion gas in unitarized Chiral Perturbation Theory at low and moderate temperatures, below any phase transition to a quark-gluon plasma phase.We argue that inelastic processes are irrelevant and exponentially suppressed at low temperatures. Since the system falls out of chemical equilibrium upon expansion, a pion chemical potential must be introduced, so we extend the existing theories that include it. We control the zero modes of the collision operator and Landau?s conditions of fit when solving the Boltzmann equation with the elastic collision kernel.The dependence of the bulk viscosity with temperature is reminiscent of the findings of Fernández-Fraile and Gómez Nicola (2009) [1], while the numerical value is closer to that of Davesne (1996) [2]. In the zero-temperature limit we correctly recover the vanishing viscosity associated to a non-relativistic monoatomic gas.     

Crystal bridge formation marks the transition to rigidity in a thin lubrication film

We report that the rheological transition in a thin lubrication film of dodecane from bulk to high viscosity states as the thickness is decreased is the result of a novel structural transition. Using nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations we find that the initial increase in viscosity as the film thins is due to the formation of isolated crystalline bridges between the surfaces. As the thickness decreases further, these bridges increase in number and organize themselves into a tetratic order in the plane of the surface. We show that this ordered state melts at a temperature of 350 K.     

Surface freezing and a two-step pathway of the isotropic-smectic phase transition in colloidal rods

We study the kinetics of the isotropic-smectic phase transition in a colloidal rod/polymer mixture by visualizing individual smectic layers. First, we show that the bulk isotropic-smectic phase transition is preceded by a surface freezing transition in which a quasi-two-dimensional smectic phase wets the isotropic-nematic interface. Next, we identify a two-step kinetic pathway for the formation of a bulk smectic phase. In the first step a metastable isotropic-nematic interface is formed. This interface is wetted by the surface-induced smectic phase. In the subsequent step, smectic layers nucleate at this surface phase and grow into the isotropic bulk phase.     

斜波压缩下锡的相变动力学特性

利用磁驱动加载装置(CQ-4)和高精度速度测试装置(DPV),开展了斜波加载下锡的动态压缩实验。实验结果表明:锡在加载阶段经历了弹塑性转变和相变等物理过程,相变压力约为7.5 GPa。β–γ相变对应的特征速度随着锡厚度的增加,从676.3 m/s减小到636.8 m/s,对应的压力从7.62 GPa降低到7.11 GPa。结合Hayes多相状态方程和非平衡相变动力学模型,对锡的斜波压缩实验过程进行了模拟,数值计算结果可以较好地描述锡在加载阶段的弹塑性转变和相变等物理过程。讨论了体模量在不同热力学过程中的物理形式,计算结果显示,斜波压缩过程需考虑压力对体模量的修正。分析了相变弛豫时间、体模量等典型物理参数对速度波形的影响,结果表明,相变弛豫时间和各相初始自由能主要影响混合区部分速度波形,γ相的体模量参数只影响相变后的速度波形,β相的体模量参数会影响整体速度波形。     

Universal properties of bulk viscosity near the QCD phase transition

We extract the bulk viscosity of hot quark–gluon matter in the presence of light quarks from the recent lattice data on the QCD equation of state. For that purpose we extend the sum rule analysis by including the contribution of light quarks. We also discuss the universal properties of bulk viscosity in the vicinity of a second-order phase transition, as it might occur in the chiral limit of QCD at fixed strange quark mass and most likely does occur in two-flavor QCD. We point out that a chiral transition in the O(4)$O(4)$ universality class at zero baryon density as well as the transition at the chiral critical point which belongs to the Z(2)$Z(2)$ universality class both lead to the critical behavior of bulk viscosity. In particular, the latter universality class implies the divergence of the bulk viscosity, which may be used as a signature of the critical point. We discuss the physical picture behind the dramatic increase of bulk viscosity seen in our analysis, and devise possible experimental tests of related phenomena.     

Non-Hermitian topological Anderson insulators

Non-Hermitian systems can exhibit exotic topological and localization properties.Here we elucidate the non-Hermitian effects on disordered topological systems using a nonreciprocal disordered Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model.We show that the non-Hermiticity can enhance the topological phase against disorders by increasing bulk gaps.Moreover,we uncover a topological phase which emerges under both moderate non-Hermiticity and disorders,and is characterized by localized insulating bulk states with a disorder-averaged winding number and zero-energy edge modes.Such topological phases induced by the combination of non-Hermiticity and disorders are dubbed non-Hermitian topological Anderson insulators.We reveal that the system has unique non-monotonous localization behavior and the topological transition is accompanied by an Anderson transition.These properties are general in other non-Hermitian models.     

Vanishing bulk viscosities and conformal invariance of the unitary fermi gas

By requiring general-coordinate and conformal invariance of the hydrodynamic equations, we show that the unitary Fermi gas has zero bulk viscosity, zeta=0, in the normal phase. In the superfluid phase, two of the bulk viscosities have to vanish, zeta1=zeta2=0, while the third one zeta3 is allowed to be nonzero.     

Wetting behaviour of a model symmetric binary mixture with partially miscible components from a density functional approach

We investigate wetting transitions in a binary fluid at a solid surface by means of a density functional approach. For this purpose we use the symmetric binary mixture model, which exhibits a demixing in a bulk phase. We concentrate on the evaluation of the phase diagrams in the case of adsorption from a gas phase at a fixed composition. Our calculations have revealed different scenarios, leading to the change of wettability of the surface. In the case of adsorption from an equimolar bulk gas the wetting transition may be of the first or of the second order. In the case of non-equimolar bulk composition we observe either a transition from partial to complete wetting, or a first-order transition between two partial wetting states.     

Phase transition and the nucleon as a soliton in the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model at finite temperature and density

We study some bulk thermodynamical characteristics, meson properties and the nucleon as a baryon-number-one soliton in hot quark matter in the NJL model as well as in hot nucleon matter in a hybrid NJL model in which the Dirac sea of quarks is combined with a Fermi sea of nucleons. In both cases, working in the mean-field approximation, we find a chiral phase transition from the Goldstone to the Wigner phase. At finite density the chiral order parameter and the constituent quark mass have a non-monotonic temperature dependence — at finite temperatures not close to the critical one they are less affected than in cold matter. Whereas quark matter is rather soft against thermal fluctuations and the corresponding chiral phase transition is smooth, nucleon matter is much stiffer and the chiral phase transition is very sharp. The thermodynamical variables show large discontinuities which is an indication for a first-order phase transition. We solve the B = 1 solitonic sector of the NJL model in the presence of external hot quark and nucleon media. In the hot medium at intermediate temperature the soliton is more bound and less swelled than in the case of cold matter. At some critical temperature, which for nucleon matter coincides with the critical temperature for the chiral phase transition, we find no more a localized solution. According to this model scenario one should expect a sharp phase transition from nucleon to quark matter.     

Epitaxy surface effect on the first-order phase transition properties in a ferroelectric thin film

By modifying the interchange interactions and the transverse fields on the epitaxy surface layer,this paper studies the phase transition properties of an n-layer ferroelectric thin film by the Fermi-type Green’s function technique based on the transverse Ising model with a four-spin interaction.The special attention is given to the effect of the epitaxy surface layer on the first-order phase transition properties in the parameter space constructed by the ratios of the bulk transverse field and the bulk four-spin interaction to the bulk two-spin interaction with the framework of the higher-order decoupling approximation to the Fermi-type Green’s function.The results show that the first-order phase transition properties will be changed significantly due to the modification of interchange interaction and transverse field parameters on the epitaxy surface layer.The dependence of the first-order phase transition properties on the thickness of ferroelectric thin films is also discussed.     

Dynamics of bimodal growth in pentacene thin films

Previous studies have established that pentacene films deposited on silicon oxide consist of a substrate-induced "thin-film" phase, with the bulk phase of pentacene detected in thicker films only. We show that the bulk phase nucleates as early as the first monolayer, and continues to nucleate as film growth progresses, shadowing the growth of the thin-film phase. Moreover, we find that the transition between the "thin-film" and the bulk phase is not a continuous one, as observed in heteroepitaxial systems, but rather the two phases nucleate and grow independently.     

A study of the bulk phase transitions of the SU(2) lattice gauge theory with mixed action

Using the finite size scaling theory, we reexamine the nature of the bulk phase transition in the fundamental-adjoint coupling plane of the SU(2) lattice gauge theory at β_A = 1.25 where previous finite size scaling investigations of the deconfinement phase transition showed it to be of first order for temporal lattices with four sites. Our simulations on N⁴ lattices with N = 6, 8, 10, 12 and 16 show an absence of a first order bulk phase transition. We find the discontinuity in the average plaquette to decrease approximately linearly with N. Correspondingly, the plaquette susceptibility grows a lot slower with the 4-volume of the lattice than expected from a first order bulk phase transition.     

Superheating and solid-liquid phase coexistence in nanoparticles with nonmelting surfaces

We present a phenomenological model of melting in nanoparticles with facets that are only partially wet by their liquid phase. We show that in this model, as the solid nanoparticle seeks to avoid coexistence with the liquid, the microcanonical melting temperature can exceed the bulk melting point and that the onset of coexistence is a first-order transition. We show that these results are consistent with molecular dynamics simulations of aluminum nanoparticles which remain solid above the bulk melting temperature.     

Chiral phase transition and Anderson localization in the instanton liquid model for QCD

We study the spectrum and eigenmodes of the QCD Dirac operator in a gauge background given by an instanton liquid model (ILM) at temperatures around the chiral phase transition. Generically we find the Dirac eigenvectors become more localized as the temperature is increased. At the chiral phase transition, both the low lying eigenmodes and the spectrum of the QCD Dirac operator undergo a transition to localization similar to the one observed in a disordered conductor. This suggests that Anderson localization is the fundamental mechanism driving the chiral phase transition. We also find an additional temperature dependent mobility edge (separating delocalized from localized eigenstates) in the bulk of the spectrum which moves toward lower eigenvalues as the temperature is increased. In both regions, the origin and the bulk, the transition to localization exhibits features of a 3D Anderson transition including multifractal eigenstates and spectral properties that are well described by critical statistics. Similar results are obtained in both the quenched and the unquenched case though the critical temperature in the unquenched case is lower. Finally we argue that our findings are not in principle restricted to the ILM approximation and may also be found in lattice simulations.