We study the non-equilibrium dynamics of a symmetry restoring phase transition in a scalar field theory, the " system " , linearly coupled to another scalar field taken as a " heat bath ". The " system " is initially in an ordered low temperature phase, and the heat bath is at a temperature close to the critical temperature for the system. We estimate the time at which the phase transition to t...

The basic assumptions of van der Waals theory are contained in two well-known concepts: excluded volume (repulsive forces) and a homogeneous, isotropic field potential (attractive forces). We have superimposed on these, one more well-known concept: the existence of dimers, trimers, etc., at chemical equilibrium. With reasonable simplifying assumptions, we obtain a closed-form equation of state,...

The critical Casimir force provides a thermodynamic analogue of the quantum mechanical Casimir force that arises from the confinement of electromagnetic field fluctuations. In its thermodynamic analogue, two surfaces immersed in a critical solvent mixture attract each other due to confinement of solvent concentration fluctuations. Here, we demonstrate the active assembly control of colloidal eq...

Widely known Gibbs' relationship predicting a difference of chemical potentials in a small solid particle and in a surrounding fluid phase at equilibrium is shown to refer to a real or imaginary bulk phase inside the particle. A similar relationship derived for the real surface monolayer of a nanoparticle exhibits the equality of chemical potentials at equilibrium, which allows for experimental...

We study the two-dimensional kinetic Ising model below its equilibrium critical temperature, subject to a square-wave oscillating external field. We focus on the multidroplet regime, where the metastable phase decays through nucleation and growth of many droplets of the stable phase. At a critical frequency, the system undergoes a genuine nonequilibrium phase transition, in which the symmetry-b...

We study the dynamics of phase transitions out of equilibrium in weakly coupled scalar field theories. We consider the case in which there is a rapid supercooling from an initial symmetric phase in thermal equilibrium at temperature Ti > Tc to a final state at low temperature Tf ≈ 0. In particular we study the formation and growth of correlated domains out of equilibrium. It is shown that the d...