Fluctuation-driven 1st-order isotropic-to-tetrahedratic phase transition

Fluctuation-driven electroweak phase transition.

We examine the dynamics of the electroweak phase transition in the early Universe. For Higgs masses in the range 46 < MH < 150 GeV and top quark masses less than 200 GeV, regions of symmetric and asymmetric vacuum coexist to below the critical temperature, with thermal equilibrium between the two phases maintained by fluctuations oi both phases. We propose that the transition to the asymmetric ...

Flow properties of the optically isotropic tetrahedratic phase

We discuss the coupling between flow and other hydrodynamic variables that can occur in the optically isotropic tetrahedratic phase (T d) characterized by a third rank tensor order parameter T ijk. We point out that an applied electric field or an applied temperature gradient will lead to flow. Reciprocally we predict that, for example, a shear flow applied to a tetrahedratic phase leads to an ...

Isotropic to nematic liquid crystalline phase transition of F-actin varies from continuous to first order.

We report that the properties of the isotropic to nematic liquid crystalline phase transition of F-actin depend critically on the average filament length. For average filament lengths longer than 2 microm, we confirm previous findings that the phase transition is continuous in both alignment and concentration. For average filament lengths shorter than 2 microm, we show for the first time a firs...

Fluctuation-induced first order transition due to Griffiths anomalies of the Cluster glass phase

In itinerant magnetic systems with disorder, the quantum Griffiths phase at T = 0 is unstable to formation of a cluster glass (CG) of frozen droplet degrees of freedom. In the absence of the fluctuations associated with these degrees of freedom, the transition from the paramagnetic Fermi liquid (PMFL) to the ordered phase proceeds via a conventional second-order quantum phase transition. Howeve...

Field-Driven 1st-Order Structural Transition in the Restricted Geometry of a Smectic-A Cell