Recent advances in phase transitions and critical phenomena

Abstract

Abstract. Phase transitions and critical phenomena are of ubiquitous importance from the femtometre scale in quantum chromodynamics to galaxy formation in the universe, from the folding, adsorption or denaturation of bio-polymers to the magnetisation effects in storage media, from percolation in complex social networks to fragmentation transitions in atomic nuclei. The present issue discusses a cross section of the current research on phase transitions and critical phenomena in condensed-matter physics, with a focus on soft and hard matter systems as well as the most important methods used for studying such problems.The study of phase transitions is by now a quite mature subject. Early notions akin to modern ideas of phase transitions are already present in ancient Greek philosophical texts, for instance in Aristotle's theory of the elements. Still, it was only in the late 18th and early 19th century that the advent of the steam engine necessitated a profound theoretical description. This clarified the conversion of heat from and to mechanical work, helped establish an abstract notion of energy, and finally resulted in the formulation of the laws of thermodynamics. The evaporation and condensation of water in the steam engine are prototypic examples of first-order phase transitions. As the temperature or pressure are increased, this system eventually reaches a critical point at which liquid and vapor become indistinguishable. The transition is no longer discontinuous but becomes continuous there. The character of this special point was a