2004/04/30 by Michael Kästner, Michael Kastner · 2 citations
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Material Dynamics and Properties #Statistical Mechanics and Entropy #cond-mat.stat-mech
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.93.150601
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 150601 (2004) · 4 pages, 1 figure
arxiv created 2004/07/13 · openalex publication_date 2004/10/04 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The relation between thermodynamic phase transitions in classical systems and topology changes in their configuration space is discussed for a one-dimensional, analytically tractable solid-on-solid model. The topology of a certain family of submanifolds of configuration space is investigated, corroborating the hypothesis that, in general, a change of the topology within this family is a necessary condition in order to observe a phase transition. Considering two slightly differing versions of this solid-on-solid model, one showing a phase transition in the thermodynamic limit and the other not, we find that the difference in the quality or strength of this topology change appears to be insignificant. This example indicates the unattainability of a condition of exclusively topological nature which is sufficient to guarantee the occurrence of a phase transition in systems with nonconfining potentials.