The field of phase transitions and critical phenomena continues to be active in research, producing a steady stream of interesting and fruitful results. It has moved into a central place in condensed matter studies. Statistical physics, and more specifically, the theory of transitions between states of matter, more or less defines what we know about 'everyday' matter and its transformations. The major aim of this serial is to provide review articles that can serve as standard references for research workers in the field, and for graduate students and others wishing to obtain reliable information on important recent developments.

Phase Transitions and Critical Phenomena

Deposits of clastic carbonate-dominated (calciclastic) sedimentary slope systems in the rock record have been identified mostly as linearly-consistent carbonate apron deposits, even though most ancient clastic carbonate slope deposits fit the submarine fan systems better. Calciclastic submarine fans are consequently rarely described and are poorly understood. Subsequently, very little is known especially in mud-dominated calciclastic submarine fan systems. Presented in this study are a sedimentological core and petrographic characterisation of samples from eleven boreholes from the Lower Carboniferous of Bowland Basin (Northwest England) that reveals a >250 m thick calciturbidite complex deposited in a calciclastic submarine fan setting. Seven facies are recognised from core and thin section characterisation and are grouped into three carbonate turbidite sequences. They include: 1) Calciturbidites, comprising mostly of highto low-density, wavy-laminated bioclast-rich facies; 2) low-density densite mudstones which are characterised by planar laminated and unlaminated muddominated facies; and 3) Calcidebrites which are muddy or hyper-concentrated debrisflow deposits occurring as poorly-sorted, chaotic, mud-supported floatstones. These

Phd by thesis

Spintronics, or spin electronics, involves the study of active control and manipulation of spin degrees of freedom in solid-state systems. This article reviews the current status of this subject, including both recent advances and well-established results. The primary focus is on the basic physical principles underlying the generation of carrier spin polarization, spin dynamics, and spin-polarized transport in semiconductors and metals. Spin transport differs from charge transport in that spin is a nonconserved quantity in solids due to spin-orbit and hyperfine coupling. The authors discuss in detail spin decoherence mechanisms in metals and semiconductors. Various theories of spin injection and spin-polarized transport are applied to hybrid structures relevant to spin-based devices and fundamental studies of materials properties. Experimental work is reviewed with the emphasis on projected applications, in which external electric and magnetic fields and illumination by light will be used to control spin and charge dynamics to create new functionalities not feasible or ineffective with conventional electronics.

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Spintronics: Fundamentals and applications

This paper reviews recent experimental and theoretical progress concerning many-body phenomena in dilute, ultracold gases. It focuses on effects beyond standard weak-coupling descriptions, such as the Mott-Hubbard transition in optical lattices, strongly interacting gases in one and two dimensions, or lowest-Landau-level physics in quasi-two-dimensional gases in fast rotation. Strong correlations in fermionic gases are discussed in optical lattices or near-Feshbach resonances in the BCS-BEC crossover.

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Many-Body Physics with Ultracold Gases

An introductory review of the central ideas in the modern theory of dynamic critical phenomena is followed by a more detailed account of recent developments in the field. The concepts of the conventional theory, mode-coupling, scaling, universality, and the renormalization group are introduced and are illustrated in the context of a simple example---the phase separation of a symmetric binary fluid. The renormalization group is then developed in some detail, and applied to a variety of systems. The main dynamic universality classes are identified and characterized. It is found that the mode-coupling and renormalization group theories successfully explain available experimental data at the critical point of pure fluids, and binary mixtures, and at many magnetic phase transitions, but that a number of discrepancies exist with data at the superfluid transition of $^{4}\mathrm{He}$.

Theory of Dynamic Critical Phenomena

The theory of critical phenomena in systems at equilibrium is reviewed at an introductory level with special emphasis on the values of the critical point exponents α, β, γ,..., and their interrelations. The experimental observations are surveyed and the analogies between different physical systems - fluids, magnets, superfluids, binary alloys, etc. - are developed phenomenologically. An exact theoretical basis for the analogies follows from the equivalence between classical and quantal `lattice gases' and the Ising and Heisenberg-Ising magnetic models. General rigorous inequalities for critical exponents at and below Tc are derived. The nature and validity of the `classical' (phenomenological and mean field) theories are discussed, their predictions being contrasted with the exact results for plane Ising models, which are summarized concisely. Pade approximant and ratio techniques applied to appropriate series expansions lead to precise critical-point estimates for the three-dimensional Heisenberg and Ising models (tables of data are presented). With this background a critique is presented of recent theoretical ideas: namely, the `droplet' picture of the critical point and the `homogeneity' and `scaling' hypotheses. These lead to a `law of corresponding states' near a critical point and to relations between the various exponents which suggest that perhaps only two or three exponents might be algebraically independent for any system.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0034-4885/30/2/306/pdf

The theory of equilibrium critical phenomena

Linear chains (and rings) of $S=\frac{1}{2}$ spins with the anisotropic (Ising-Heisenberg) Hamiltonian $\mathcal{H}=\ensuremath{-}2J\ensuremath{\Sigma}\stackrel{N}{i=1}{{{S}_{i}}^{z}{{S}_{i+1}}^{z}+\ensuremath{\gamma}({{S}_{i}}^{x}{{S}_{i+1}}^{x}+{{S}_{i}}^{y}{{S}_{i+1}}^{y})}\ensuremath{-}g\ensuremath{\beta}\ensuremath{\Sigma}\stackrel{N}{i=1}\mathrm{H}\ifmmode\cdot\else\textperiodcentered\fi{}{\mathrm{S}}_{i}$ have been studied by exact machine calculations for $N=2 \mathrm{to} 11$, $\ensuremath{\gamma}=0 \mathrm{to} 1$ and for ferro- and antiferro-magnetic coupling. The results reveal the dependence on finite size and anisotropy of the spectrum and dispersion laws, of the energy, entropy, and specific heat, of the magnetization and susceptibilities, and of the pair correlations. The limiting $N\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\infty}$ behavior is accurately indicated, for all $\ensuremath{\gamma}$, in the region $\frac{\mathrm{kT}}{|J|}g~0.5$ which includes the maxima in the specific heat and susceptibility. The behavior of thermal and magnetic properties of infinite chains at lower temperatures is estimated by extrapolation. For infinite antiferromagnetic chains the ground-state degeneracy, the anisotropy gap, and the magnetization, perpendicular susceptibility, and pair correlations at $T=0$ are similarly studied. Estimates of the long-range order suggest that it vanishes only at the Heisenberg limit $\ensuremath{\gamma}=1$ and confirm the accuracy of Walker's perturbation series in $\ensuremath{\gamma}$.

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Linear Magnetic Chains with Anisotropic Coupling

Critical exponents are calculated for dimension $d=4\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\epsilon}$ with $\ensuremath{\epsilon}$ small, using renormalization-group techniques. To order $\ensuremath{\epsilon}$ the exponent $\ensuremath{\gamma}$ is $1+\frac{1}{6}\ensuremath{\epsilon}$ for an Ising-like model and $1+\frac{1}{5}\ensuremath{\epsilon}$ for an $\mathrm{XY}$ model.

Critical Exponents in 3.99 Dimensions

It is observed that the free-energy, susceptibility, and correlation functions for a linear chain of N spins with nearest-neighbor isotropic Heisenberg coupling can be calculated explicitly in the (classical) limit of infinite spin. The results are compared briefly with those for Ising and Heisenberg chains of spin 12.

Magnetism in One-Dimensional Systems—The Heisenberg Model for Infinite Spin

The renormalization group approach to the theory of critical behavior is reviewed at an introductory level with emphasis on magnetic systems. Among recent results reported are the dependence of critical exponents above Tc on dimensionality d=4−e; on the symmetry index or number of spin components, n; on the range and anisotropy of exchange couplings; and on dipolar interactions and lattice anisotropies, in ferro- and antiferromagnets. Calculations of the scaling functions for the equation of state and critical scattering are summarized.

Michael E. Fisher

Papers

The theory of equilibrium critical phenomena

Linear Magnetic Chains with Anisotropic Coupling

Critical Exponents in 3.99 Dimensions

Magnetism in One-Dimensional Systems—The Heisenberg Model for Infinite Spin

The renormalization group in the theory of critical behavior