arXiv subjects

Akira Onuki

Publications and source records attributed to Akira Onuki.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2008

Intermediate states at structural phase transition: Model with a one-component order parameter coupled to strains

We study a Ginzburg-Landau model of structural phase transition in two dimensions, in which a single order parameter is coupled to the tetragonal and dilational strains. Such elastic coupling terms in the free energy much affect the phase transition behavior particularly near the tricriticality. A characteristic feature is appearance of intermediate states, where the ordered and disordered regions coexist on mesoscopic scales in nearly steady states in a temperature window. The window width increases with increasing the strength of the dilational coupling. It arises from freezing of phase ordering in inhomogeneous strains. No impurity mechanism is involved. We present a simple theory of the intermediate states to produce phase diagrams consistent with simulation results.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2008

Surface tension of electrolytes: Hydrophilic and hydrophobic ions near an interface

We calculate the ion distributions around an interface in fluid mixtures of highly polar and less polar fluids (water and oil) for two and three ion species. We take into account the solvation and image interactions between ions and solvent. We show that hydrophilic and hydrophobic ions tend to undergo a microphase separation at an interface, giving rise to an enlarged electric double layer. We also derive a general expression for the surface tension of electrolyte systems, which contains a negative electrostatic contribution proportional to the square root of the bulk salt density. The amplitude of this square-root term is small for hydrophilic ion pairs, but is much increased for hydrophilic and hydrophobic ion pairs. For three ion species including hydrophilic and hydrophobic ions, we calculate the ion distributions to explain those obtained by x-ray reflectivity measurements.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2008

Nonionic and ionic surfactants at an interface

A Ginzburg-Landau theory is presented on surfactants in polar binary mixtures, which aggregate at an interface due to the amphiphilic interaction. They can be ionic surfactants coexisting with counterions. Including the solvation and image interactions and accounting for a finite volume fraction of the surfactant, we obtain their distributions and the electric potential around an interface in equilibrium. The surface tension is also calculated. The distribution of the adsorbed ionic surfactant is narrower than that of the counterions. The adsorption is marked for hydrophilic and hydrophobic pairs of ionic surfactant and counterions.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2007

Thermoacoustic effects in supercritical fluids near the critical point: Resonance, piston effect, and acoustic emission and reflection

We present a general theory of thermoacoustic phenomena in supercritical fluids near the critical point in a one-dimensional cell. We take into account the effects of the heat conduction in the boundary walls and the bulk viscosity near the critical point. We introduce a coefficient $Z(ω)$ characterizing reflection of sound with frequency $ω$ at the boundary. As applications, we examine the acoustic eigenmodes in the cell, the response to time-dependent perturbations, sound emission and reflection at the boundary. Resonance and rapid adiabatic changes are noteworthy. In these processes, the role of the thermal diffusion layers is enhanced near the critical point because of the strong critical divergence of the thermal expansion.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2007

Plastic flow in polycrystal states in a binary mixture

Using molecular dynamics simulation we examine dynamics in sheared polycrystal states in a binary mixture containing 10% larger particles in two dimensions. We find large stress fluctuations arising from sliding motions of the particles at the grain boundaries, which occur cooperatively to release the elastic energy stored. These dynamic processes are visualized with the aid of a sixfold angle $α_j(t)$ representing the local crystal orientation and a disorder variable $D_j(t)$ representing a deviation from the hexagonal order for particle $j$.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2007

Phase transition in compressible Ising systems at fixed volume

Using a Ginzburg-Landau model, we study the phase transition behavior of compressible Ising systems at constant volume by varying the temperature $T$ and the applied magnetic field $h$. We show that two phases can coexist macroscopically in equilibrium within a closed region in the $T$-$h$ plane. It occurence is favored near tricriticality. We find a field-induced critical point, where the correlation length diverges, the difference of the coexisting two phases and the surface tension vanish, but the isothermal magnetic susceptibility does not diverge in the mean field theory. We also investigate phase ordering numerically.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2006

Transitions among crystal, glass, and liquid in a binary mixture with changing particle size ratio and temperature

Using molecular dynamics simulation we examine changeovers among crystal, glass, and liquid at high density in a two dimensional binary mixture. We change the ratio between the diameters of the two components and the temperature. The transitions from crystal to glass or liquid occur with proliferation of defects. We visualize the defects in terms of a disorder variable "D_j(t)" representing a deviation from the hexagonal order for particle j. The defect structures are heterogeneous and are particularly extended in polycrystal states. They look similar at the crystal-glass crossover and at the melting. Taking the average of "D_j(t)" over the particles, we define a disorder parameter "D(t)", which conveniently measures the degree of overall disorder. Its relaxation after quenching becomes slow at low temperature in the presence of size dispersity. Its steady state average is small in crystal and large in glass and liquid.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2006

Charged inclusion in nematic liquid crystals

We present a general theory of liquid crystals under inhomogeneous electric field in a Ginzburg-Landau scheme. The molecular orientation can be deformed by electric field when the dielectric tensor is orientation-dependent. We then investigate the influence of a charged particle on the orientation order in a nematic state. The director is aligned either along or perpendicular to the local electric field around the charge, depending on the sign of the dielectric anisotropy. The deformation becomes stronger with increasing the ratio $Ze/R$, where $Ze$ is the charge and $R$ is the radius of the particle. Numerical analysis shows the presence of defects around the particle for large $Ze/R$. They are nanometer-scale defects for microscopic ions. If the dielectric anisotropy is positive, a Saturn ring defect appears. If it is negative, a pair of point defects appear apart from the particle surface, each being connected to the surface by a disclination line segment.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2006

High-speed observation of the piston effect near the gas-liquid critical point

We measured high-speed sound propagation in a near-critical fluid using a ultra-sensitive interferometer to investigate adiabatic changes of fluids on acoustic timescales. A sound emitted by very weak continuous heating caused a stepwise adiabatic change at its front with a density change of order 10^{-7}g/cm^3 and a temperature change of order 10^{-5}deg. Very small heat inputs at a heater produced short acoustic pulses with width of order 10micro sec, which were broadened as they moved through the cell and encountered with the boundaries. The pulse broadening became enhanced near the critical point. We also examined theoretically how sounds are emitted from a heater and how applied heat is transformed into mechanical work. Our predictions well agree with our data.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2005

Ion-induced nucleation in polar one-component fluids

We present a Ginzburg-Landau theory of ion-induced nucleation in a gas phase of polar one-component fluids, where a liquid droplet grows with an ion at its center. By calculating the density profile around an ion, we show that the solvation free energy is larger in gas than in liquid at the same temperature on the coexistence curve. This difference much reduces the nucleation barrier in a metastable gas.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2005

Dynamic van der Waals Theory of two-phase fluids in heat flow

We present a dynamic van der Waals theory. It is useful to study phase separation when the temperature varies in space. We show that if heat flow is applied to liquid suspending a gas droplet at zero gravity, a convective flow occurs such that the temperature gradient within the droplet nearly vanishes. As the heat flux is increased, the droplet becomes attached to the heated wall that is wetted by liquid in equilibrium. In one case corresponding to partial wetting by gas, an apparent contact angle can be defined. In the ther case with larger heat flux, the droplet completely wets the heated wall expelling liquid.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2004

Numerical simulations studies of the convective instability onset in a supercritical fluid

Numerical simulation studies in 2D with the addition of noise are reported for the convection of a supercritical fluid,3He, in a Rayleigh-Be'nard cell where the fluid parameters and cell height L are the same as in published laboratory experiments. The noise addition is to accelerate the instability onset after starting the heat flow across the fluid, so as to bring simulations into better agreement with experimental observations. Homogeneous temperature noise and spatial lateral periodic temperature variations in the top plate were programmed into the simulations. A speed-up in the instability onset was obtained, which was most effective through the spatial temperature variations with a period of 2L, close to the wavelength of a pair of convections rolls. For a small amplitude of 0.5 microK, this perturbation gave a semiquantitative agreement with experimental observations. Results for various noise amplitudes are presented and discussed in relation to predictions by El Khouri and Carle`s.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2004

Viscoelastic Phase Separation in Shear Flow

We numerically investigate viscoelastic phase separation in polymer solutions under shear using a time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau model. The gross variables in our model are the polymer volume fraction and a conformation tensor. The latter represents chain deformations and relaxes slowly on the rheological time giving rise to a large viscoelastic stress. The polymer and the solvent obey two-fluid dynamics in which the viscoelastic stress acts asymmetrically on the polymer and, as a result, the stress and the diffusion are dynamically coupled. Below the coexistence curve, interfaces appear with increasing the quench depth and the solvent regions act as a lubricant. In these cases the composition heterogeneity causes more enhanced viscoelastic heterogeneity and the macroscopic stress is decreased at fixed applied shear rate. We find steady two-phase states composed of the polymer-rich and solvent-rich regions, where the characteristic domain size is inversely proportional to the average shear stress for various shear rates. The deviatoric stress components exhibit large temporal fluctuations. The normal stress difference can take negative values transiently at weak shear.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2004

Spatio-temporal structures in sheared polymer systems

We investigate spatio-temporal structures in sheared polymer systems by solving a time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau model in two dimensions. (i) In polymer solutions above the coexistence curve, crossover from linear to nonlinear regimes occurs with increasing the shear rate. In the nonlinear regime the solution behaves chaotically with large-amplitude composition fluctuations. A characteristic heterogeneity length is calculated in the nonlinear regime. (ii) We also study dynamics of shear-band structures in wormlike micellar solutions under the condition of fixed stress. The average shear rate exhibits large temporal fluctuations with occurrence of large disturbances in the spatial structures.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2004

Sheared Solid Materials

We present a time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau model of nonlinear elasticity in solid materials. We assume that the elastic energy density is a periodic function of the shear and tetragonal strains owing to the underlying lattice structure. With this new ingredient, solving the equations yields formation of dislocation dipoles or slips. In plastic flow high-density dislocations emerge at large strains to accumulate and grow into shear bands where the strains are localized. In addition to the elastic displacement, we also introduce the local free volume {\it m}. For very small $m$ the defect structures are metastable and long-lived where the dislocations are pinned by the Peierls potential barrier. However, if the shear modulus decreases with increasing {\it m}, accumulation of {\it m} around dislocation cores eventually breaks the Peierls potential leading to slow relaxations in the stress and the free energy (aging). As another application of our scheme, we also study dislocation formation in two-phase alloys (coherency loss) under shear strains, where dislocations glide preferentially in the softer regions and are trapped at the interfaces.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2004

Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Heat-Conducting Near-Critical Fluids

Using molecular dynamics simulations, we study supercritical fluids near the gas-liquid critical point under heat flow in two dimensions. We calculate the steady-state temperature and density profiles. The resultant thermal conductivity exhibits critical singularity in agreement with the mode-coupling theory in two dimensions. We also calculate distributions of the momentum and heat fluxes at fixed density. They indicate that liquid-like (entropy-poor) clusters move toward the warmer boundary and gas-like (entropy-rich) regions move toward the cooler boundary in a temperature gradient. This counterflow results in critical enhancement of the thermal conductivity.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2004

Dislocation Formation and Work-Hardening in Two-Phase Alloys

A phase field model is presented to investigate dislocation formation (coherency loss) and workhardening in two-phase binary alloys. In our model the elastic energy density is a periodic function of the shear and tetragonal strains, which allows multiple formation of slips (dislocation dipoles). By numerically integrating the dynamic equations in two dimensions, we find that dislocations appear in pairs in the interface region and grow into slips. One end of each slip glides preferentially into the softer region, while the other end remains trapped at the interface. Under uniaxial stretching at deep quenching, slips appear in the softer regions and do not penetrate into the harder domains, giving rise to an increase of the stress with increasing applied strain in plastic flow.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2004

Solvation Effects in Near-Critical Binary Mixtures

A Ginzburg-Landau theory is presented to investigate solvation effects in near-critical polar fluid binary mixtures. Concentration-dependence of the dielectric constant gives rise to a shell region around a charged particle within which solvation occurs preferentially. As the critical point is approached, the concentration has a long-range Ornstein-Zernike tail representing strong critical electrostriction. If salt is added, strong coupling arises among the critical fluctuations and the ions. The structure factors of the critical fluctuations and the charge density are calculated and the phase transition behavior is discussed.

cond-mat.soft↗