Landau theory first order transitions

The alternative mechanism by which a first-order transition arises in the Landau theory with a scalar order parameter is the lack of symmetry of F against a sign change of (f>. Then we may add a term id3 to eq. (14), with another phenomenological coefficient w. For u > 0, / ((/>) may have two minima (fig. 13c) again the transition occurs when the minima are equally deep. For r = r T — T0) this happens when... 

However, for all second order phase transitions it is well-known that one must pay attention to fluctuations of the order parameter - taking them into account often invalidates Landau-like theories [74]. This also happens here (Fig. 42, right part) it turns out that no longer any second order transition occurs at all, rather we encounter a fluctuation-induced first order transition [58, 327]. 

It is concluded [217] that an interpretation of the ideal herringbone transition within the anisotropic-planar-rotor model (2.5) as a weak first-order transition seems most probable, especially since previous assignments [56, 244] can be rationalized. This phase transition is fluctuation-driven in the sense of the Landau theory because the mean-field theory [141] yields a second-order transition. Assuming that defects of the -v/3 lattice and additional fluctuations due to full rotations and translations in three dimensions are not relevant and only renormalize the nonuniversal quantities, these assignments should be correct for other reasonable models and also for experiment [217]. 

Fig. 17. a) M versus H isotherms from Landau theory, for a first-order transition, with equilibrium (solid lines) and non-equilibrium (dashed and dotted lines), and b) estimated ASm versus T for equilibrium and non-equilibrium solutions, from the use of the Maxwell relation. 

In Landau s phenomenological theory of the mean field the thermodynamic potential G (or F) is considered as a series in terms of the order parameter Q. I he series coefficients, generally, depend on temperature and pressure. Depending on the presence of the series term with a certain power n Q ), on the coefficients values, and on the relationships between them, the thermodynamic potential assumes a functional dependence being characteristic for the first-order transitions, transitions of the continuous type or for the first-order ones of the near-continuous type. 

The transition from water to ice at 1 atmosphere pressure is a first-order transition, and the latent heat is about 100 J/g. The isotropic-nematic transition is a weak first-order transition because the order parameter changes discontinuously across the transition but the latent heat is only about 10 J/g. De Gennes extended Landau s theory into isotropic-nematic transition... 

The lattice gas approach is valid within certain limits for typical metallic hydrides, binaries as well as ternaries. Deviation from this idealized picture indicates that metallic hydrides are not pure host-guest systems, but real chemical compounds. An important difference between the model of hydrogen as a lattice gas, liquid, or solid and real metal hydrides lies in the nature of the phase transitions. Whereas the crystallization of a material is a first-order transition according to Landau s theory, an order-disorder transition in a hydride can be of first or second order. The structural relationships between ordered and disordered phases of metal hydrides have been proven in many cases by crystallographic group-subgroup relationships, which suggests the possibility of second-order (continuous) phase transitions. However, in many cases hints for a transition of first order were found due to a surface contamination of the sample that kinetically hinders the transition to proceed. 

Certain two-dimensional 5 = quantum antiferromagnets can imdergo a direct continuous quantum phase transition between two ordered phases, an antiferromagnetic Neel phase and the so-called valence-bond ordered phase (where translational invariance is broken). This is in contradiction to Landau theory, which predicts phase coexistence, an intermediate phase, or a first-order transition, if any. The continuous transition is the result of topological defects that become spatially deconfined at the critical point and are not contained in an LGW description. Recently, there has been a great interest in the resulting deconfined quantum critical points. ... 

Recently there has been considerable interest in the phase transition of polymerized (tethered) membranes with attractive interactions [1-4]. In a pioneer work [1], Abraham and Nelson found by molecular dynamics simulations that the introduction of attractive interactions between monomers leads to a collapsed membrane with fractal dimension 3 at a sufficiently low temperature. Subsequently, Abraham and Kardar [2] showed that for open membranes with attractive interactions, as the temperature decreases, there exists a well-defined sequence of folding transitions and then the membrane ends up in the collapsed phase. They also presented a Landau theory of the transition. Grest and Petsche [4] extensively carried out molecular dynamics simulations of closed membranes. They considered flexible membranes the nodes of the membrane are connected by a linear chain of n monomers. For short monomer chains, n = 4, there occurs a first-order transition from the high-temperature flat phase to... 

The Landau theory predicts the symmetry conditions necessary for a transition to be thermodynamically of second order. The order parameter must in this case vary continuously from 0 to 1. The presence of odd-order coefficients in the expansion gives rise to two values of the transitional Gibbs energy that satisfy the equilibrium conditions. This is not consistent with a continuous change in r and thus corresponds to first-order phase transitions. For this reason all odd-order coefficients must be zero. Furthermore, the sign of b must change from positive to negative at the transition temperature. It is customary to express the temperature dependence of b as a linear function of temperature ... 

Within Landau-Ginzburg theory, the free energy functional near a second-order or weakly first-order phase transition is expanded in terms of an order parameter rj>(q) ... 

In order to compare calculated and experimentally observed phase portraits it is necessary to know very exactly all the coefficients of the describing nonlinear differential Equation 14.3. Therefore, different methods of determination of the nonlinear coefficient in the Duffing equation have been compared. In the paraelectric phase the value of the nonlinear dielectric coefficient B is determined by measuring the shift of the resonance frequency in dependence on the amplitude of the excitation ( [1], [5]). In the ferroelectric phase three different methods are used in order to determine B. Firstly, the coefficient B is calculated in the framework of the Landau theory from the coefficient of the high temperature phase (e.g. [4]). This means B = const, and B has the same values above and below the phase transition. Secondly, the shift of the resonance frequency of the resonator in the ferroelectric phase as a function of the driving field is used in order to determine the coefficient B. The amplitude of the exciting field is smaller than the coercive field and does not produce polarization reversal during the measurements of the shift of the resonance frequency. In the third method the coefficient B was determined by the values of the spontaneous polarization... 

The variation of 5(7) near the N-I phase transition will be measured in this experiment and will be compared with the behavior predicted by Landau theory, " " which is a variant of the mean-field theory first introduced for magnetic order-disorder systems. In this theory, local variations in the environment of each molecule are ignored and interactions with neighbors are represented by an average. This type of theory for order-disorder phase transitions is a very useful approximate treatment that retains the essential features of the transition behavior. Its simplicity arises from the suppression of many complex details that make the statistical mechanical solution of 3-D order-disorder problems impossible to solve exactly. 

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