p. 25512. Continuous phase transitions
- Roger BowleyRoger BowleyDepartment of Physics University of Nottingham
- , and Mariana Sánchez
Abstract
This chapter explores the occurrence of a continuous phase transition when the minimum in the thermodynamic potential evolves smoothly into two or more equal minima. It refers to an example of the liquid–gas phase transition held at constant pressure wherein the system is on the liquid–gas coexistence line and the thermodynamic potential is the generalized Gibbs free energy. It also analyses the temperatures above the critical temperature wherein there is no evidence of two phases and the system has a uniform density which results in a single phase called the fluid phase. The chapter points out that bubbles of gas and drops of liquid in the system are intermingled on all length-scales from the macroscopic to the atomic. It elaborates that the bubbles represent fluctuations of the system away from the average density.
