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Crossover of critical Casimir forces between different surface universality classes.
T F Mohry1, A Maciołek, S Dietrich
1Max-Planck-Institut für Metallforschung, Heisenbergstraße 3, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany. mohry@mf.mpg.de
Physical Review. E, Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics
|September 28, 2010
Summary
Critical Casimir forces in confined Ising systems exhibit complex behavior near phase transitions. These forces can change sign multiple times with temperature variations, especially in crossover regimes with differing surface fields.
Area of Science:
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Statistical Mechanics
- Surface Science
Background:
- Near continuous phase transitions, confined systems experience critical Casimir forces.
- These forces arise from order parameter fluctuations influenced by boundary conditions.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate critical Casimir forces in Ising systems within a film geometry.
- Analyze the crossover regime with distinct surface fields on opposing surfaces.
Main Methods:
- Mean-field theory was employed to calculate the scaling function of the critical Casimir force.
- Rescaling techniques were used to map finite surface field results to the normal fixed point.
- Comparison with Monte Carlo simulation data for a 3D Ising film was performed.
Main Results:
- The scaling functions for critical Casimir force and order parameter profile were calculated.
- In the crossover regime, the force shows multiple extrema and can change sign twice with temperature.
- Monte Carlo simulations corroborated these observed trends.
Conclusions:
- The critical Casimir force exhibits non-trivial temperature dependence and sign changes in specific surface field conditions.
- Order parameter profiles can predict the sign of the critical Casimir force by comparing film and semi-infinite geometries.
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