Phase Transitions and Crystal Symmetry

✍ Scribed by Yu. A. Izyumov, V. N. Syromyatnikov (auth.)

• Publisher: Springer Netherlands
• Year: 1990
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 461
• Series: Fundamental Theories of Physics 38
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

About half a century ago Landau formulated the central principles of the phe­ nomenological second-order phase transition theory which is based on the idea of spontaneous symmetry breaking at phase transition. By means of this ap­ proach it has been possible to treat phase transitions of different nature in altogether distinct systems from a unified viewpoint, to embrace the aforemen­ tioned transitions by a unified body of mathematics and to show that, in a certain sense, physical systems in the vicinity of second-order phase transitions exhibit universal behavior. For several decades the Landau method has been extensively used to an­ alyze specific phase transitions in systems and has been providing a basis for interpreting experimental data on the behavior of physical characteristics near the phase transition, including the behavior of these characteristics in systems subject to various external effects such as pressure, electric and magnetic fields, deformation, etc. The symmetry aspects of Landau's theory are perhaps most effective in analyzing phase transitions in crystals because the relevant body of mathemat­ ics for this symmetry, namely, the crystal space group representation, has been worked out in great detail. Since particular phase transitions in crystals often call for a subtle symmetry analysis, the Landau method has been continually refined and developed over the past ten or fifteen years.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages i-xx
Introduction to Phenomenological Phase Transition Theory....Pages 1-18
Physical Realization of the Order Parameters at a Microscopic Level of Description....Pages 19-51
Symmetry Change at Phase Transitions....Pages 52-99
Analysis of the Thermodynamic Potential....Pages 100-130
Phase Diagrams in the Space of Thermodynamic Potential Parameters....Pages 131-187
Macroscopic Order Parameters....Pages 188-214
Phase Transitions in an External Field....Pages 215-249
Martensite Transformations....Pages 250-300
Incommensurate Periodicity Phases....Pages 301-357
Color Symmetry and its Role in Phase Transition Theory....Pages 358-403
Fluctuations and Symmetry....Pages 404-438
Back Matter....Pages 439-443

✦ Subjects

Condensed Matter Physics;Statistical Physics, Dynamical Systems and Complexity;Crystallography