title: Tricritical behavior in the rotator phases of normal alkanes.
abstract: The first theoretical observation of the tricritical point for the rotator-I to rotator-V phase transition of normal alkanes is reported. The influence of pressure on the rotator-II-rotator-I-rotator-V phase sequence in normal alkanes has been studied within the Landau phenomenological theory. Our results show that for a particular value of pressure the first-order rotator-I to rotator-V phase transition becomes second-order at a tricritical point. We outline how the novel phase diagram could be detected experimentally.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Presidency College, 86/1 College Street, Kolkata 700 073, India. pkmukherje@yahoo.co.in
authors.forename: Prabir K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Mukherjee