Monte Carlo simulations are used to show that the steady state of the d = 2, two-temperature, diffusive XY model displays a continuous phase transition from a homogeneous disordered phase to a phase with long-range order. The long-range order exists although both the dynamics and the interactions are local, thus indicating the failure of a naive extension of the Mermin-Wagner theorem to nonequi...

Melting in two dimensions can successfully be explained with the Kosterlitz-Thouless-Halperin-Nelson-Young (KTHNY) scenario which describes the formation of the high-symmetry phase with the thermal activation of topological defects within an (ideally) infinite monodomain. With all state variables being well defined, it should hold also as freezing scenario where oppositely charged topological d...

We provide a phenomenological theory for topological transitions in restructuring networks. In this statistical mechanical approach energy is assigned to the different network topologies and temperature is used as a quantity referring to the level of noise during the rewiring of the edges. The associated microscopic dynamics satisfies the detailed balance condition and is equivalent to a lattic...

Three-dimensional Monte Carlo simulations of flexible and semiflexible polymer brushes at various grafting densities are carried out to study their equilibrium structure and attendant properties by using the bond fluctuation model. Our simulation results of long flexible polymer brushes are, in general, consistent with predictions of the self-consistent field theory. However, a depletion layer ...

We investigate coupled spin and heat transport in easy-plane magnetic insulators. These materials display a continuous phase transition between normal and condensate states that is controlled by an external magnetic field. Using hydrodynamic equations supplemented by Gross-Pitaevski phenomenology and magnetoelectric circuit theory, we derive a two-fluid model to describe the dynamics of thermal...

We study stochastic sandpile models with a height restriction in one and two dimensions. A site can topple if it has a height of two, as in Manna's model, but, in contrast to previously studied sandpiles, here the height (or number of particles per site), cannot exceed two. This yields a considerable simplification over the unrestricted case, in which the number of states per site is unbounded....

We investigated cluster formation in model colloids where the interparticle potential beyond the collision diameter includes a short-ranged attraction and a longer-ranged repulsion. The structure and thermodynamic properties of the model system can be accurately described by the first-order mean-spherical approximation (FMSA) and a perturbation theory for bulk phases and by a nonlocal density-f...

A basic micromechanical model for deformation of solids with only one tuning parameter (weakening epsilon) is introduced. The model can reproduce observed stress-strain curves, acoustic emissions and related power spectra, event statistics, and geometrical properties of slip, with a continuous phase transition from brittle to ductile behavior. Exact universal predictions are extracted using mea...

The Landau theory' of continuous phase transitions provides a powerful tool for understanding transitions between solid phases whose symmetries have a group-subgroup relationship. In the Landau theory, the thermodynamic free energy F of the crystal is written as a function of an order parameter Q. In the high-symmetry phase, the minimum of F is at Q = 0. In the low-symmetry phase, the minimum o...

We report the observation of a Skyrmion lattice in the chiral multiferroic insulator Cu2OSeO3 using Cu L3-edge resonant soft x-ray diffraction. We observe the unexpected existence of two distinct Skyrmion sublattices that arise from inequivalent Cu sites with chemically identical coordination numbers but different magnetically active orbitals. The Skyrmion sublattices are rotated with respect t...