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 . 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
• Glass transition
• 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

• Coil-globule transition
• Helix-coil transition

See also

• Computation of phase equilibria

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)