Effect of order parameter fluctuations on the Halperin-Lubensky-Ma first-order transition in superconductors and liquid crystals

Herbut, I. F. and Yethiraj, Anand and Bechhoefer, John (2001) Effect of order parameter fluctuations on the Halperin-Lubensky-Ma first-order transition in superconductors and liquid crystals. Europhysics Letters, 55 (3). pp. 317-323. ISSN 1286-4854

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Abstract

We show that order parameter fluctuations in a good type-I superconductor or a liquid crystal always increase the size of the first-order transition. This behavior is eventually changed when the system crosses over to an inverted-XY critical behavior, with the size of the first-order transition vanishing as a power law with a crossover exponent. We find good agreement between our theory and a recent experiment on the nematic-smectic-A first-order transition in 8CB-10CB mixtures of liquid crystals.

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