Tricritical behavior in the rotator phases of normal alkanes.
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.
Mukherjee
Prabir K
PK
Department of Physics, Presidency College, 86/1 College Street, Kolkata 700 073, India. pkmukherje@yahoo.co.in