Phase transitions
A phase transition occurs at points on the phase diagram where the Helmholtz energy function is a singular function of the thermodynamic variables within it [1]. The following is (an incomplete) list of phase transitions. The change from one state to another is usually monitored by some sort of order parameter.
- 1-dimensional phase transitions
- First-order transitions
- Gas-liquid phase transitions
- Isotropic-nematic phase transition
- Kosterlitz-Thouless transition
- Landau theory of second-order phase transitions
- Liquid-liquid phase transitions
- Martensitic phase transitions
- Nematic-smectic phase transition
- Nonequilibrium phase transitions
- Order-disorder transitions
- Quantum phase transitions
- Second-order transitions
- Solid-liquid phase transitions
- Topological phase transitions
- Vapour-liquid phase transitions
Other transitions
See also
References
Recommended reading
- Paul Ehrenfest "Phase conversions in a general and enhanced sense, classified according to the specific singularities of the thermodynamic potential", Proceedings of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen 36 pp. 153-157 (1933)
- H. Eugene Stanley "Introduction to Phase Transitions and Critical Phenomena", Oxford University Press (1988)
- J. M. Yeomans "Statistical Mechanics of Phase Transitions", Oxford University Press (1992)
- Benjamin Widom "Theory of Phase Equilibrium", Journal of Physical Chemistry 100 pp 13190-13199 (1996)
- Georgii A. Martynov "The problem of phase transitions in statistical mechanics", Physics-Uspekhi 42 pp. 517-543 (1999)
- Philip Ball "Transitions still to be made", Nature 402 C73-C76 (1999)