Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 10, 2026

Orientational Transition in a Liquid Crystal Triggered by the Thermodynamic Growth of Interfacial Wetting Sheets
Published on: May 15, 2017
Dynamical phase transitions in supercooled liquids: interpreting measurements of dynamical activity
Christopher J Fullerton1, Robert L Jack
1Department of Physics, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, United Kingdom. c.fullerton@bath.ac.uk
Abstract:
We study dynamical phase transitions in a model supercooled liquid. These transitions occur in ensembles of trajectories that are biased towards low (or high) dynamical activity. We compare two different measures of activity that were introduced in recent papers and we find that they are anti-correlated with each other. To interpret this result, we show that the two measures couple to motion on different length and time scales. We find that "inactive" states with very slow structural relaxation nevertheless have increased molecular motion on very short scales. We discuss these results in terms of the potential energy landscape of the system and in terms of the liquid structure in active/inactive states.
Related Concept Videos
Phase Transitions: Melting and Freezing
Phase Transitions: Vaporization and Condensation
Phase Transitions
Phase Transitions
Phase Transitions: Sublimation and Deposition
Phase Diagrams

