Phase transitions and critical phenomena in the liquid bridge under lateral acceleration

We study the shape of a liquid body under the influence of a lateral body force in a thin liquid bridge. The shape of the liquid body changes continuously or discontinuously depending on the volume of liquid body. We show that the transition from discontinuous to continuous change is described by the volume-induced phase transition driven by the lateral body force. The order parameter of the phase transition is the amount of shift of the center of mass of liquid body. Critical exponents of a mean-field model have been obtained by numerical calculation. We provide the validity of this critical behavior through the m(4) model of Landau theory of phase transition.