arXiv subjects

Gilles Tarjus

Publications and source records attributed to Gilles Tarjus.

88 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2008

Effect of the reservoir size on gas adsorption in inhomogeneous porous media

We study the influence of the relative size of the reservoir on the adsorption isotherms of a fluid in disordered or inhomogeneous mesoporous solids. We consider both an atomistic model of a fluid in a simple, yet structured pore, whose adsorption isotherms are computed by molecular simulation, and a coarse-grained model for adsorption in a disordered mesoporous material, studied by a density functional approach in a local mean-field approximation. In both cases, the fluid inside the porous solid exchanges matter with a reservoir of gas that is at the same temperature and chemical potential and whose relative size can be varied, and the control parameter is the total number of molecules present in the porous sample and in the reservoir. Varying the relative sizes of the reservoir and the sample may change the shape of the hysteretic isotherms, leading to a "reentrant" behavior compared to the grand-canonical isotherm when the latter displays a jump in density. We relate these phenomena to the organization of the metastable states that are accessible for the adsorbed fluid at a given chemical potential or density.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2008

Comment on "Correlation between Dynamic Heterogeneity and Medium-Range Order in Two-Dimensional Glass-Forming Liquids"

In a recent letter, Kawasaki et al. (PRL 99, 215701 (2007)) study glass formation in a 2-dimensional (2D) model of polydisperse repulsive disks. They give numerical evidence for a direct relation between slowing down of the relaxation, extension of some medium-range order, and development of dynamic heterogeneities. We disagree with the authors' interpretation on two points which we believe to be potentially important for understanding the glass transition.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2007

Non-Perturbative Functional Renormalization Group for Random Field Models and Related Disordered Systems. I: Effective Average Action Formalism

We have developed a nonperturbative functional renormalization group approach for random field models and related disordered systems for which, due to the existence of many metastable states, conventional perturbation theory often fails. The approach combines an exact renormalization group equation for the effective average action with a nonperturbative approximation scheme based on a description of the probability distribution of the renormalized disorder through its cumulants. For the random field $O(N)$ model, the minimal truncation within this scheme is shown to reproduce the known perturbative results in the appropriate limits, near the upper and lower critical dimensions and at large number $N$ of components, while providing a unified nonperturbative description of the full $(N,d)$ plane, where $d$ is the spatial dimension.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2007

Non-Perturbative Functional Renormalization Group for Random Field Models and Related Disordered Systems. II: Results for the Random Field O(N) Model

We study the critical behavior and phase diagram of the $d$-dimensional random field O(N) model by means of the nonperturbative functional renormalization group approach presented in the preceding paper. We show that the dimensional reduction predictions, obtained from conventional perturbation theory, break down below a critical dimension $d_{DR}(N)$ and we provide a description of criticality, ferromagnetic ordering and quasi-long range order in the whole $(N,d)$ plane. Below $d_{DR}(N)$, our formalism gives access to both the typical behavior of the system, controlled by zero-temperature fixed points with a nonanalytic dimensionless effective action, and to the physics of rare low-energy excitations ("droplets"), described at nonzero temperature by the rounding of the nonanalyticity in a thermal boundary layer.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2007

Periodic boundary conditions on the pseudosphere

We provide a framework to build periodic boundary conditions on the pseudosphere (or hyperbolic plane), the infinite two-dimensional Riemannian space of constant negative curvature. Starting from the common case of periodic boundary conditions in the Euclidean plane, we introduce all the needed mathematical notions and sketch a classification of periodic boundary conditions on the hyperbolic plane. We stress the possible applications in statistical mechanics for studying the bulk behavior of physical systems and we illustrate how to implement such periodic boundary conditions in two examples, the dynamics of particles on the pseudosphere and the study of classical spins on hyperbolic lattices.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2007

Spatial correlations in the dynamics of glassforming liquids: Experimental determination of their temperature dependence

We use recently introduced three-point dynamic susceptibilities to obtain an experimental determination of the temperature evolution of the number of molecules, N_corr, that are dynamically correlated during the structural relaxation of supercooled liquids. We first discuss in detail the physical content of three-point functions that relate the sensitivity of the averaged two-time dynamics to external control parameters (such as temperature or density), as well as their connection to the more standard four-point dynamic susceptibility associated with dynamical heterogeneities. We then demonstrate that these functions can be experimentally determined with a good precision. We gather available data to obtain the temperature dependence of N_corr for a large number of supercooled liquids over a wide range of relaxation timescales from the glass transition up to the onset of slow dynamics. We find that N_corr systematically grows when approaching the glass transition. It does so in a modest manner close to the glass transition, which is consistent with an activation-based picture of the dynamics in glassforming materials. For higher temperatures, there appears to be a regime where N_corr behaves as a power-law of the relaxation time. Finally, we find that the dynamic response to density, while being smaller than the dynamic response to temperature, behaves similarly, in agreement with theoretical expectations.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2006

On the correlation between fragility and stretching in glassforming liquids

We study the pressure and temperature dependences of the dielectric relaxation of two molecular glassforming liquids, dibutyl phtalate and m-toluidine. We focus on two characteristics of the slowing down of relaxation, the fragility associated with the temperature dependence and the stretching characterizing the relaxation function. We combine our data with data from the literature to revisit the proposed correlation between these two quantities. We do this in light of constraints that we suggest to put on the search for empirical correlations among properties of glassformers. In particular, argue that a meaningful correlation is to be looked for between stretching and isochoric fragility, as both seem to be constant under isochronic conditions and thereby reflect the intrinsic effect of temperature.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2006

Hysteresis behavior of the random-field Ising model with 2-spin-flip dynamics: Exact results on a Bethe lattice

We present an exact treatment of the hysteresis behavior of the zero-temperature random-field Ising model on a Bethe lattice when it is driven by an external field and evolved according to a 2-spin-flip dynamics. We focus on lattice connectivities z=2 (the one-dimensional chain) and z=3. For the latter case, we demonstrate the existence of an out-of-equilibrium phase transition, in contrast with the situation found with the standard 1-spin-flip dynamics. We discuss the influence of the degree of cooperativity of the (local) spin dynamics of the nonequilibrium response on the system.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2006

Two-loop Functional Renormalization Group of the Random Field and Random Anisotropy O(N) Models

We study by the perturbative Functional Renormalization Group (FRG) the Random Field and Random Anisotropy O(N) models near $d=4$, the lower critical dimension of ferromagnetism. The long-distance physics is controlled by zero-temperature fixed points at which the renormalized effective action is nonanalytic. We obtain the beta functions at 2-loop order, showing that despite the nonanalytic character of the renormalized effective action, the theory is perturbatively renormalizable at this order. The physical results obtained at 2-loop level, most notably concerning the breakdown of dimensional reduction at the critical point and the stability of quasi-long range order in $d<4$, are shown to fit into the picture predicted by our recent non-perturbative FRG approach.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2006

Temperature Versus Density Effects in Glassforming Liquids and Polymers: A Scaling Hypothesis and its Consequences

We discuss the validity and the outcome of a scaling hypothesis proposed by us some years ago, according to which the influence of the density on the slowing down of flow and relaxation in glassforming liquids and polymers is described trough a single effective interaction energy Einf(rho). We stress the formal consequences and the physical meaning of the scaling.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2005

A unified picture of ferromagnetism, quasi-long range order and criticality in random field models

By applying the recently developed nonperturbative functional renormalization group (FRG) approach, we study the interplay between ferromagnetism, quasi-long range order (QLRO) and criticality in the $d$-dimensional random field O(N) model in the whole ($N$, $d$) diagram. Even though the "dimensional reduction" property breaks down below some critical line, the topology of the phase diagram is found similar to that of the pure O(N) model, with however no equivalent of the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition. In addition, we obtain that QLRO, namely a topologically ordered "Bragg glass" phase, is absent in the 3--dimensional random field XY model. The nonperturbative results are supplemented by a perturbative FRG analysis to two loops around $d=4$.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2005

Nonperturbative functional renormalization group for random field models: the way out of dimensional reduction

We have developed a non-perturbative functional renormalization group approach for the random field O(N) model (RFO(N)M) that allows us to investigate the ordering transition in any dimension and for any value of N including the Ising case. We show that the failure of dimensional reduction and standard perturbation theory is due to the non-analytic nature of the zero-temperature fixed point controlling the critical behavior, non-analycity which is associated with the existence of many metastable states. We find that this non-analycity leads to critical exponents differing from the dimensional reduction prediction only below a critical dimension d\_c(N)<6, with d\_c(N=1)>3.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2004

Hysteresis and avalanches in the T=0 random-field Ising model with 2-spin-flip dynamics

We study the non-equilibrium behavior of the three-dimensional Gaussian random-field Ising model at T=0 in the presence of a uniform external field using a 2-spin-flip dynamics. The deterministic, history-dependent evolution of the system is compared with the one obtained with the standard 1-spin-flip dynamics used in previous studies of the model. The change in the dynamics yields a significant suppression of coercivity, but the distribution of avalanches (in number and size) stays remarkably similar, except for the largest ones that are responsible for the jump in the saturation magnetization curve at low disorder in the thermodynamic limit. By performing a finite-size scaling study, we find strong evidence that the change in the dynamics does not modify the universality class of the disorder-induced phase transition.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2001

Spin-Glass Phase in the Random Temperature Ising Ferromagnet

In this paper we study the phase diagram of the disordered Ising ferromagnet. Within the framework of the Gaussian variational approximation it is shown that in systems with a finite value of the disorder in dimensions D=4 and D < 4 the paramagnetic and ferromagnetic phases are separated by a spin-glass phase. The transition from paramagnetic to spin-glass state is continuous (second-order), while the transition between spin-glass and ferromagnetic states is discontinuous (first-order). It is also shown that within the considered approximation there is no replica symmetry breaking in the spin-glass phase. The validity of the Gaussian variational approximation for the present problem is discussed, and we provide a tentative physical interpretation of the results.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2000

The viscous slowing down of supercooled liquids as a temperature-controlled superArrhenius activated process: a description in terms of frustration-limited domains

We propose that the salient feature to be explained about the glass transition of supercooled liquids is the temperature-controlled superArrhenius activated nature of the viscous slowing down, more strikingly seen in weakly-bonded, fragile systems. In the light of this observation, the relevance of simple models of spherically interacting particles and that of models based on free-volume congested dynamics are questioned. Finally, we discuss how the main aspects of the phenomenology of supercooled liquids, including the crossover from Arrhenius to superArrhenius activated behavior and the heterogeneous character of the $α$ relaxation, can be described by an approach based on frustration-limited domains.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv1999

Enhanced Saturation Coverages in Adsorption-Desorption Processes

Many experimental studies of protein deposition on solid surfaces involve alternating adsorption/desorption steps. In this paper, we investigate the effect of a desorption step (separating two adsorption steps) on the kinetics, the adsorbed-layer structure, and the saturation density. Our theoretical approach involves a density expansion of the pair distribution function and an application of an interpolation formula to estimate the saturation density as a function of the density at which the desorption process commences, $ρ_1$, and the density of the depleted configuration, $ρ_2$. The theory predicts an enhancement of the saturation density compared with that of a simple, uninterrupted RSA process and a maximum in the saturation density when $ρ_2={2/3}ρ_1$. The theoretical results are in qualitative and in semi-quantitative agreement with the results of numerical simulations.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗