Bulletin of the American Physical Society
2006 APS March Meeting
Monday–Friday, March 13–17, 2006; Baltimore, MD
Session W5: A Century of Critical Phenomena |
Hide Abstracts |
Sponsoring Units: FHP Chair: Pierre Hohenberg, New York University Room: Baltimore Convention Center 309 |
Thursday, March 16, 2006 2:30PM - 3:06PM |
W5.00001: The Richard T. Cox Lecture: Liquid State as an Occasional Result of Competing Interactions Invited Speaker: Now it is even strange to think that in the early 50-ies the second order transitions and the liquid -- vapor critical point were considered as different fields of physics. In the USSR this lack of understanding (as everything in the USSR) had also a political dimension. Being a graduate of Kharkov University (domain of L.Landau) I was inclined to work in a framework of Landau-theory of the critical point. Having carefully analysed the published experimental data I discovered that the scattering of the data in the vicinities of both critical points and phase transitions was much higher than the implemented equipment had allowed [1]. For me it was a true sign of wrong conditions of measurements. As a result I had adjusted my experiment to the specific condition of the critical point. We worked together with the group of students of Kharkov University who had shared my enthusiasm. When we were already on a halfway of our own measurements I was deeply impressed by the excellent result of M.J.Buckingham and W.M. Fairbank on the $\lambda $-point of Helium [2]. Their achievement had turned our own measurements into a sort of experimen-tum crucis: should one expect a singularity also in the critical point or shouldn't? Experimental data on isochoric heat capacity near the critical point looked really similar (but not identical) to the singularity near the $\lambda $-transition. Both found their common ground in lattice models of different kinds [3]. The scaling concept was suggested to explain the universal features of both phenomena originated from developing fluctuations [4]. Our work was noticed first by C.Domb and M.Fisher in England. Michael was especially persistent in his demands that the Sovjet authorities would allow us a free communication. He produced a sort of frustration in their bureaurocratic heads. But it was great to feel not to be condemned for an eternal isolation in the USSR. All this development (now international) has opened way to express the properties of all liquids (including mixtures) in the vicinities of the singular points by the universal functions of reduced coordinates [5]. But the very existence of the critical point (and the liquid state itself) is in fact not an universal property of matter [6]. The freezing is depen-dent on a symmetry of packing and on a form of a potential well. It means the lower limit of the liquid state cannot be universal. However, if the freezing is somehow avoided the metastable critical point may be achieved instead [7]. And the universal features of the critical phenomena may be observed there again. Literature: [1] A. Voronel, M. Gitterman, Zh. Exp. Teor. Fiz. 39, 1162 (1960). M.Bagatsky, A.Voronel, V.Gusak., Zh. Exp. Teor. Fiz. 43, 728 (1962). See also a review: A. Voronel ``Thermal measurements and Critical Phenomena in Liquids.'' in PHASE TRANSITIONS AND CRITICAL PHENOMENA, vol. 5B, ed. by C.DOMB {\&} M.S.GREEN, 1976, Academic Press, London, New York, San Francisco. [2] M.J.Buckingham, W.M.Fairbank in 111,60, ``PROGRESS IN LOW TEMPERATURE PHYSICS''(ed. by C.J.Gorter) North-Holland Pub.Co., Amsterdam, 1961. [3] M.E.Fisher,''The Nature of Critical Points'', University of Colorado Press, Boulder, 1965; [4] A.Patashinsky,V.Pokrovsky, Sov.Phys.JETP,23,292,(1966); L.P.Kadanov, Physics, 2,263, (1966) [5] M.E.Fisher, Phys.Rev.,176, 257, (1968); M.A.Anisimov, A.V.Voronel, E.E.Gorodetsky, Zh.Exp.Teor.Fiz.,60,1117, (1971) [6] H.J.Hagen,D.Frenkel,H.Lekkerkerker, Nature, 365, 425, (1993); D.Frenkel, Physica, A 263, 26, (1999). G.Vliegenthardt, H.Lekkerkerker, Physica, A 263, 378, (1999). [7] O.Mishima,H.E.Stanley, Nature, 392, 164, (1998). [Preview Abstract] |
Thursday, March 16, 2006 3:06PM - 3:42PM |
W5.00002: The Role of Experiment in Our Understanding of Critical Phenomena Invited Speaker: Progress in physics usually is maximized when there is close contact between experimentalists and theorists. This talk will review some of the interactions between experiment and theory that have occurred in the field of critical phenomena since the discovery of the critical point by Andrews in 1869. These interactions appear to have been very fruitful in the 19th century, but seem to have been lacking to some extent during the first half of the 20th century. In more recent times experimental results again have had a more profound influence, but with the advent of the renormalization-group theory they mostly served the important purpose of confirming theoretical predictions. In the present century the emphasis of theory has largely moved on to other fields because the problem of critical phenomena is considered by many to be ``solved''; but some experimentalists are still exploring new frontiers at the boundary between critical phenomena and other areas of condensed-matter physics that hopefully will re-attract the attention of the theoretical community. [Preview Abstract] |
Thursday, March 16, 2006 3:42PM - 4:18PM |
W5.00003: Some Fruits of Genius: Lars Onsager and the Ising Model Invited Speaker: The story of the exact solution of the two-dimensional Ising model by Lars Onsager in the 1940's will be sketched and some of the striking developments following from it, especially for the behavior of fluctuating interfaces, will be recounted. [Preview Abstract] |
Thursday, March 16, 2006 4:18PM - 4:54PM |
W5.00004: From Gibbs to Schramm: How the Concepts were Developed Invited Speaker: |
Thursday, March 16, 2006 4:54PM - 5:30PM |
W5.00005: Panel Discussion with Session Speakers |
Follow Us |
Engage
Become an APS Member |
My APS
Renew Membership |
Information for |
About APSThe American Physical Society (APS) is a non-profit membership organization working to advance the knowledge of physics. |
© 2024 American Physical Society
| All rights reserved | Terms of Use
| Contact Us
Headquarters
1 Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3844
(301) 209-3200
Editorial Office
100 Motor Pkwy, Suite 110, Hauppauge, NY 11788
(631) 591-4000
Office of Public Affairs
529 14th St NW, Suite 1050, Washington, D.C. 20045-2001
(202) 662-8700