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Method for analyzing second-order phase transitions: application to the ferromagnetic transition of a polaronic system.

A new method for analyzing second-order phase transitions is presented and applied to the polaronic system La(0.7)Ca(0.3)MnO3. It utilizes heat capacity and thermal expansion data simultaneously to correctly predict the critical temperature's pressure dependence. Analysis of the critical phenomena reveals second-order behavior and an unusually large heat capacity exponent.

Journal Article↗

Calorimetric detection of a membrane-lipid phase transition in living cells.

The membrane lipids in living Mycoplasma laidlawii exhibit a phase transition characteristic of that from crystal to liquid crystal within the bilayer conformation. The transition occurs at the same temperature in viable organisms, membranes isolated from the organisms, and isolated membrane lipids. The enthalpy of the transition in the membrane is compared with that of an aqueous suspension of isolated membrane lipids. The result is consistent with presence of an extended lipid bilayer in the native membrane.

Calorimetry↗

Phase transition in an ensemble of dissipative solitons of a Turing system.

Numerical study of a two-component reaction-diffusion system where Turing spatial structures are formed has revealed the existence of phase transition between condensed and rarefied phases of dissipative solitons. The effect is due to the dependence of soliton structure on control parameters. The transition manifests a hysteresis, which gives evidence for the possibility of phases to coexist.

Journal Article↗

Lithium hydroxide phase transition under high pressure: an ab initio molecular dynamics study.

The high-pressure phase transition in the deuterated lithium hydroxide crystalline state has been studied by Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics simulations, in the constant-pressure, constant-temperature ensemble. The recently developed metadynamics approach has been applied to encourage the system to transform into different phases in an affordable simulation time. A previously not completely characterized high-pressure phase has been obtained. The structural and spectroscopic properties have been studied and compared with the neutron scattering, infrared and Raman measurements. It has been found that the calculated structure differs slightly from the experimental hypothesis, and that the presence of strong hydrogen bonds is the source of the red shift and of the characteristic features of the OD-stretching bands in both IR and Raman spectra.

Journal Article↗

Phase transitions in nonequilibrium d-dimensional models with q absorbing states.

A nonequilibrium Potts-like model with q absorbing states is studied using Monte Carlo simulations. In two dimensions and q=3 the model exhibits a discontinuous transition. For the three-dimensional case and q=2 the model exhibits a continuous transition with beta=1 (mean field). Simulations are inconclusive, however, in the two-dimensional case for q=2. We suggest that in this case the model is close to or at the crossing point of lines separating three different types of phase transitions. The proposed phase diagram in the (q,d) plane is very similar to that of the equilibrium Potts model. In addition, our simulations confirm the field-theory prediction that in two dimensions a branching-annihilating random walk model without parity conservation belongs to the directed percolation universality class.

Journal Article↗

Phase transitions of extended-range probabilistic cellular automata with two absorbing states.

We study phase transitions in a long-range one-dimensional cellular automaton with two symmetric absorbing states. It includes and extends several other models, like the Ising and Domany-Kinzel ones. It is characterized by competing ferromagnetic linear and antiferromagnetic nonlinear couplings. Despite its simplicity, this model exhibits an extremely rich phase diagram. We present numerical results and mean-field approximations.

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Phase Transition of Wax Enabling CRISPR Diagnostics for Automatic At-Home Testing of Multiple Sexually Transmitted Infection Pathogens.

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) significantly impact women's reproductive health. Rapid, sensitive, and affordable detection of these pathogens is essential, especially for home-based self-testing, which is crucial for individuals who prioritize privacy or live in areas with limited access to healthcare services. Herein, an automated diagnostic system called Wax-CRISPR has been designed specifically for at-home testing of multiple STIs. This system employs a unique strategy by using the solid-to-liquid phase transition of wax to sequentially isolate and mix recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) and CRISPR assays in a microfluidic chip. By incorporating a home-built controlling system, Wax-CRISPR achieves true one-pot multiplexed detection. The system can simultaneously detect six common critical gynecological pathogens (CT, MG, UU, NG, HPV 16, and HPV 18) within 30 min, with a detection limit reaching 10-18 M. Clinical evaluation demonstrates that the system achieves a sensitivity of 96.8% and a specificity of 97.3% across 100 clinical samples. Importantly, eight randomly recruited untrained operators performe a double-blinded test and successfully identified the STI targets in 33 clinical samples. This wax-transition-based one-pot CRISPR assay offers advantages such as low-cost, high-stability, and user-friendliness, making it a useful platform for at-home or field-based testing of multiple pathogen infections.

Sexually Transmitted Diseases↗

Intermediates in membrane fusion and bilayer/nonbilayer phase transitions imaged by time-resolved cryo-transmission electron microscopy.

Bilayer-to-nonbilayer phase transitions in phospholipids occur by means of poorly characterized intermediates. Many have proposed that membrane fusion can also occur by formation of these intermediates. Structures for such intermediates were proposed in a recent theory of these transition mechanisms. Using time-resolved cryo-transmission electron Microscopy (TRC-TEM), we have directly visualized the evolution of inverted phase micro-structure in liposomal aggregates. We have identified one of the proposed intermediates, termed an interlamellar attachment (ILA), which has the structure and dimensions predicted by the theory. We show that ILAs are likely to be the structure corresponding to "lipidic particles" observed by freeze-fracture electron microscopy. ILAs appear to assemble the inverted cubic (III) phase by formation of an ILA lattice, as previously proposed. ILAs are also observed to mediate membrane fusion in the same systems, on the same time scale, and under nearly the same conditions in which membrane fusion was observed by fluorescence methods in earlier studies. These earlier studies indicated a linkage between a membrane fusion mechanism and III phase formation. Our micrographs suggest that the same intermediate structure mediates both of those processes.

Lipid Bilayers↗

Effect of oligomers of ethylene glycol on thermotropic phase transition of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine multilamellar vesicles.

The effect of oligomers of ethylene glycol (EG) on thermotropic phase transitions of dipalmitoylglycerophosphatidylcholine multilamellar vesicles (DPPC-MLV) were investigated. Diethylene glycol (di-EG) had a biphasic effect on transition temperature, reducing pre-transition temperature (Tp) at low concentrations but increasing main transition temperature (Tm) and extinguishing pre-transition at high concentration. Results of the X-ray diffraction method and the excimer method indicated that di-EG induced interdigitated gel phase (L beta 1 phase) in the DPPC membranes at high concentration. Phase diagram of temperature-di-EG concentration for DPPC-MLV was determined by use of X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry, which was similar to that of temperature-EG concentration. The minimum concentration of di-EG where L beta 1 phase was induced was 42%(w/v), which was larger than that of EG (30%(w/v)). On the other hand, in the presence of triethylene glycol (tri-EG), Tm and Tp increased with an increased in tri-EG concentration, as well as poly(ethylene glycol). These differences, between the effects of di-EG and those of tri-EG, might be due to the differences of their sizes.

1,2-Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine↗

Effect of nonmesogenic impurities on the order of the nematic to smectic-A phase transition in liquid crystals.

By means of adiabatic scanning calorimetry, we have studied the effect of the nonmesogenic solutes cyclohexane (CH) and biphenyl (BP) on the nematic-smectic-A phase transition in the liquid crystal octylcyanobiphenyl (8CB). For all concentrations of BP studied, the transition remains second-order. For 8CB+CH, however, crossover from second-order to first-order is observed at a tricritical point of the mole fraction x of CH around 0.0460. The difference between the two systems and the crossover is explained in terms of a mean-field free energy density expression including coupling terms of x with the nematic and smectic-A order parameters.

Biphenyl Compounds↗

Comprehensive study of phase transitions in relaxational systems with field-dependent coefficients.

We present a comprehensive study of phase transitions in single-field systems that relax to a nonequilibrium global steady state. The mechanism we focus on is not the so-called Stratonovich drift combined with collective effects, but is instead similar to the one associated with noise-induced transitions in the manner of Horsthemke-Lefever in zero-dimensional systems. As a consequence, the noise interpretation (e.g., Itô vs Stratonovich) merely shifts the phase boundaries. With the help of a mean-field approximation, we present a broad qualitative picture of the various phase diagrams that can be found in these systems. To complement the theoretical analysis we present numerical simulations that confirm the findings of the mean-field theory.

Journal Article↗

Multiple field-induced phase transitions in the geometrically frustrated dipolar magnet: Gd(2) Ti(2)O(7).

Field-driven phase transitions generally arise from competition between Zeeman energy and exchange or crystal-field anisotropy. Here we present the phase diagram of a frustrated pyrochlore magnet Gd(2)Ti(2)O(7), where crystal-field splitting is small compared to the dipolar energy. We find good agreement between zero-temperature critical fields and those obtained from a mean-field model. Here, dipolar interactions couple real space and spin space, so the transitions in Gd(2)Ti(2)O(7) arise from field-induced "cooperative anisotropy," reflecting the broken spatial symmetries of the pyrochlore lattice.

Journal Article↗