2025/11/07 by Thewes, Filipe C., Qiang, Yicheng, Paulin, Oliver W. +1
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Block Copolymer Self-Assembly #FOS: Physical sciences #Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft) #Solidification and crystal growth phenomena #Theoretical and Computational Physics
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2511.05214
openalex publication_date 2025/11/07 · openalex created_date 2025/11/11 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Phase separation in complex systems is a ubiquitous phenomenon. While simple theories predict coarsening until only macroscopically large phases remain, concrete models often exhibit patterns with finite length scales. To unify such models, we here propose a general field-theoretic model that combines phase separation with non-local interactions. Our analysis reveals that long-range interactions generally suppress coarsening, whereas systems with non-local short-range interactions additionally exhibit a continuous phase transition to patterned phases. Only the latter system allows for the coexistence of homogeneous and patterned phases, which we explain by mapping to the conserved Swift-Hohenberg model. Taken together, our generic model reveals an underlying framework that describes similar phenomena observed in many complex phase-separating systems.