arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to S. R. Salinas.
We analyze the thermodynamic behavior of a ferromagnetic mean-spherical model with three distinct spin components and the addition of Dzyaloshinkii-Moriya interactions. Exact calculations are performed for classical and quantum versions of this lattice model system. We show the onset of space modulated structures at low temperatures.
We analyze the phase diagram of an elementary statistical lattice model of classical, discrete, spin variables, with nearest-neighbor ferro-magnetic isotropic interactions in competition with chiral interactions along an axis. At the mean-field level, we show the existence of para-magnetic lines of transition to a region of modulated (helimagnetic) structures. We then turn to the analysis of the analogous problem on a Cayley tree. Taking into account the simplicity introduced by the infinite-coordination limit of the tree, we explore several details of the phase diagrams in terms of temperature and a parameter of competition. In particular, we characterize sequences of modulated (helical) structures associated with devil's staircases of a fractal character.
We consider a Lebwohl-Lasher lattice model with nematic directors restricted to point along $p$ planar directions. This $XY$ Lebwohl-Lasher system is the nematic analogue of the standard $p$-state clock model. We then include chiral interactions, and introduce a chiral $p$-state nematic clock model. The statistical problem is formulated as a discrete non-linear map on a Cayley tree. The attractors of this map correspond to the physical solutions deep in the interior of the tree. It is possible to observe uniform and periodic structures, depending on temperature and a parameter of chirality. We find many different chiral nematic phases, and point out the effects of temperature and chirality on the modulation associated with these structures.
We investigate the connections between some simple Maier-Saupe lattice models, with a discrete choice of orientations of the microscopic directors, and a recent proposal of a two-tensor formalism to describe the phase diagrams of nematic liquid-crystalline systems. This two-tensor proposal is used to formulate the statistical problem in terms of fully-connected lattice Hamiltonians, with the local nematic directors restricted to the Cartesian axes. Depending on the choice of interaction parameters, we regain all of the main features of the original mean-field two-tensor calculations. With a standard choice of parameters, we obtain the well-known sequence of isotropic, uniaxial, and biaxial nematic structures, with a Landau multicritical point. With another suitably chosen set of parameters, we obtain two tricritical points, according to some recent predictions of the two-tensor calculations. The simple statistical lattice models are quite easy to work with, for all values of parameters, and the present calculations can be carried out beyond the mean-field level.
In a pioneer work, John Nagle has shown that an Ising chain with competing short and long-range interactions displays second and first-order phase transitions separated by a tricritical point. More recently, it has been claimed that Nagle's model provides an example of the inequivalence between canonical and microcanonical calculations. We then revisit Nagle's original solution, as well as the usual formulation of the problem in a canonical ensemble, which lead to the same results. Also, in contrast to recent claims, we show that an alternative formulation in the microcanonical ensemble, with the adequate choice of the fixed thermodynamic extensive variables, leads to equivalent thermodynamic results.
We introduce shape fluctuations in a liquid-crystalline system by considering an elementary Maier--Saupe lattice model for a mixture of uniaxial and biaxial molecules. Shape variables are treated in the annealed (thermalized) limit. We analyze the thermodynamic properties of this system in terms of temperature $T$, concentration $c$ of intrinsically biaxial molecules, and a parameter $Δ$ associated with the degree of biaxiality of the molecules. At the mean-field level, we use standard techniques of statistical mechanics to draw global phase diagrams, which are shown to display a rich structure, including uniaxial and biaxial nematic phases, a reentrant ordered region, and many distinct multicritical points. Also, we use the formalism to write an expansion of the free energy in order to make contact with the Landau--de Gennes theory of nematic phase transitions.
We investigate the phase diagram of a spin-$1/2$ Ising model on a cubic lattice, with competing interactions between nearest and next-nearest neighbors along an axial direction, and fully connected spins on the sites of each perpendicular layer. The problem is formulated in terms of a set of noninteracting Ising chains in a position-dependent field. At low temperatures, as in the standard mean-feild version of the Axial-Next-Nearest-Neighbor Ising (ANNNI) model, there are many distinct spatially commensurate phases that spring from a multiphase point of infinitely degenerate ground states. As temperature increases, we confirm the existence of a branching mechanism associated with the onset of higher-order commensurate phases. We check that the ferromagnetic phase undergoes a first-order transition to the modulated phases. Depending on a parameter of competition, the wave number of the striped patterns locks in rational values, giving rise to a devil's staircase. We numerically calculate the Hausdorff dimension $D_{0}$ associated with these fractal structures, and show that $D_{0}$ increases with temperature but seems to reach a limiting value smaller than $D_{0}=1$.
We investigate the phase diagram of a spin--1 Ising spin-glass model on a Cayley tree. According to early work of Thompson and collaborators, this problem can be formulated in terms of a set of nonlinear discrete recursion relations along the branches of the tree. Physically relevant solutions correspond to the attractors of these mapping equations. In the limit of infinite coordination of the tree, and for some choices of the model parameters, we make contact with findings for the phase diagram of more recently investigated versions of the Blume-Emery-Griffiths spin-glass model. In addition to the anticipated phases, we numerically characterize the existence of modulated and chaotic structures.
We analyze the phase diagram of a quantum mean spherical model in terms of the temperature $T$, a quantum parameter $g$, and the ratio $p=-J_{2}/J_{1}$, where $J_{1}>0$ refers to ferromagnetic interactions between first-neighbor sites along the $d$ directions of a hypercubic lattice, and $J_{2}<0$ is associated with competing antiferromagnetic interactions between second neighbors along $m\leq d$ directions. We regain a number of known results for the classical version of this model, including the topology of the critical line in the $g=0$ space, with a Lifshitz point at $p=1/4$, for $d>2$, and closed-form expressions for the decay of the pair correlations in one dimension. In the T=0 phase diagram, there is a critical border, $g_{c}=g_{c}(p) $ for $d\geq2$, with a singularity at the Lifshitz point if $d<(m+4)/2$. We also establish upper and lower critical dimensions, and analyze the quantum critical behavior in the neighborhood of $p=1/4$.
The ground-state phase diagram of an Ising spin-glass model on a random graph with an arbitrary fraction $w$ of ferromagnetic interactions is analysed in the presence of an external field. Using the replica method, and performing an analysis of stability of the replica-symmetric solution, it is shown that $w=1/2$, correponding to an unbiased spin glass, is a singular point in the phase diagram, separating a region with a spin-glass phase ($w<1/2$) from a region with spin-glass, ferromagnetic, mixed, and paramagnetic phases ($w>1/2$).
We use an infinite-range Maier-Saupe model, with two sets of local quadrupolar variables and restricted orientations, to investigate the global phase diagram of a coupled system of two nematic subsystems. The free energy and the equations of state are exactly calculated by standard techniques of statistical mechanics. The nematic-isotropic transition temperature of system A increases with both the interaction energy among mesogens of system B, and the two-subsystem coupling $J$. This enhancement of the nematic phase is manifested in a global phase diagram in terms of the interaction parameters and the temperature $T$. We make some comments on the connections of these results with experimental findings for a system of diluted ferroelectric nanoparticles embedded in a nematic liquid-crystalline environment.
We analyze the global phase diagram of a Maier-Saupe lattice model with the inclusion of disorder degrees of freedom to mimic a mixture of oblate and prolate molecules (discs and cylinders). In the neighborhood of a Landau multicritical point, solutions of the statistical problem can be written as a Landau-de Gennes expansion for the free energy. If the disorder degrees of freedom are quenched, we confirm the existence of a biaxial nematic strucure. If orientational and disorder degrees of freedom are allowed to thermalize, this biaxial solution becomes thermodynamically unstable. Also, we use a two-temperature formalism to mimic the presence of two distinct relaxation times, and show that a slight departure from complete thermalization is enough to stabilize a biaxial nematic phase.
We introduce a simple mean-field lattice model to describe the behavior of nematic elastomers. This model combines the Maier-Saupe-Zwanzig approach to liquid crystals and an extension to lattice systems of the Warner-Terentjev theory of elasticity, with the addition of quenched random fields. We use standard techniques of statistical mechanics to obtain analytic solutions for the full range of parameters. Among other results, we show the existence of a stress-strain coexistence curve below a freezing temperature, analogous to the P-V diagram of a simple fluid, with the disorder strength playing the role of temperature. Below a critical value of disorder, the tie lines in this diagram resemble the experimental stress-strain plateau, and may be interpreted as signatures of the characteristic polydomain-monodomain transition. Also, in the monodomain case, we show that random-fields may soften the first-order transition between nematic and isotropic phases, provided the samples are formed in the nematic state.
We investigate the phase diagram of a discrete version of the Maier-Saupe model with the inclusion of additional degrees of freedom to mimic a distribution of rodlike and disklike molecules. Solutions of this problem on a Bethe lattice come from the analysis of the fixed points of a set of nonlinear recursion relations. Besides the fixed points associated with isotropic and uniaxial nematic structures, there is also a fixed point associated with a biaxial nematic structure. Due to the existence of large overlaps of the stability regions, we resorted to a scheme to calculate the free energy of these structures deep in the interior of a large Cayley tree. Both thermodynamic and dynamic-stability analyses rule out the presence of a biaxial phase, in qualitative agreement with previous mean-field results.
We consider a simple Maier-Saupe statistical model with the inclusion of disorder degrees of freedom to mimic the phase diagram of a mixture of rod-like and disc-like molecules. A quenched distribution of shapes leads to the existence of a stable biaxial nematic phase, in qualitative agreement with experimental findings for some ternary lyotropic liquid mixtures. An annealed distribution, however, which is more adequate to liquid mixtures, precludes the stability of this biaxial phase. We then use a two-temperature formalism, and assume a separation of relaxation times, to show that a partial degree of annealing is already sufficient to stabilize a biaxial nematic structure.
We introduce a Sherrington-Kirkpatrick spin-glass model with the addition of elastic degrees of freedom. The problem is formulated in terms of an effective four-spin Hamiltonian in the pressure ensemble, which can be treated by the replica method. In the replica-symmetric approximation, we analyze the pressure-temperature phase diagram, and obtain expressions for the critical boundaries between the disordered and the ordered (spin-glass and ferromagnetic) phases. The second-order para-ferromagnetic border ends at a tricritical point, beyond which the transition becomes discontinuous. We use these results to make contact with the temperature-concentration phase diagrams of mixtures of hydrogen-bonded crystals.
The Langevin dynamics of a $d$-dimensional mean spherical model with competing interactions along $m\leq d$ directions of a hypercubic lattice is analysed. After a quench at high temperatures, the dynamical behaviour is characterized by two distinct time scales associated with stationary and aging regimes. The asymptotic expressions for the autocorrelation and response functions, in supercritical, critical, and subcritical cases, were calculated. Aging effects, which are known to be present in the ferromagnetic version of this model system, are not affected by the introduction of competing interactions.
We obtain exact expressions for the two-time autocorrelation and response functions of the $d$-dimensional linear Glauber model. Although this linear model does not obey detailed balance in dimensions $d\geq 2$, we show that the usual form of the fluctuation-dissipation ratio still holds in the stationary regime. In the transient regime, we show the occurence of aging, with a special limit of the fluctuation-dissipation ratio, $X_{\infty}=1/2$, for a quench at the critical point.