Multicritical Phenomena : Proceedings of a NATO Advanced Study Institute on Multicritical Phenomena, held April 10-21, 1983, in Geilo, Norway

This book comprises the Proceedings of a NATO Advanced Study Institute on Mu1ticritica1 Phenomena held in Geilo, Norway, between 10-21 April 1983. This school was the seventh to be held in Gei10, on various aspects of phase transitions. In spite of its apparently restrictive title the school was planned as a forum for the discus­ sion of phase transitions and instabilities in systems, with competing interactions and competing order parameters. Thus, in addition to the canonical multicritical points, subjects were diverse as critical phenomena in random magnetic systems and routes to chaos were discussed. The subject matter of the school is naturally divided into a series of categories which to some extent, reflect the historical development of interest in competing phenomena at phase transitions. Multicritical points in equilibrium systems, defined phenomenolo­ gically as points of sudden change of behaviour on an otherwise smooth phase boundary, were the first topics of the school. The theo­ retical consensus which has emerged during the past decade, largely as a result of calculations with the renormalisation group, was reviewed in some detail. The results presented, however, apply only to pure systems (in which dirt and other manifestations of reality are irrelevant) in that small realm close to the phase transition knoYln as "asymtopia. Front Matter....Pages i-xii Multicriticality: A Theoretical Introduction....Pages 1-5 Partial Differential Approximants for Multicritical Singularities: An Overview....Pages 7-11 Experimental Studies of Magnetic Tricritical Points: Problems and Progress....Pages 13-34 Experimental Studies of Bicritical Points in 3D Antiferromagnets....Pages 35-52 The Experimental Evidence for a Lifshitz Point in MnP....Pages 53-71 Nature of the Smectic-A-Smectic-C Transition Near a Nematic-Smectic-A — Smectic-C Multicritical Point....Pages 73-79 Dynamics Near Multicritical Points....Pages 81-112 Critical Dynamics of Sound....Pages 113-128 Multicritical Phenomena at Structural Phase Transitions....Pages 129-142 Bi- and Tetra-Critical Behavior of Uniaxially Stressed LaA10 3 ....Pages 143-153 Fluctuation Driven Multicritical Points....Pages 155-164 A New Multicritical Point in a Seven Dimensional Parameter Space....Pages 165-170 Multicritical Points in Incommensurate Systems....Pages 171-176 Neutron Investigation of Modulated Structures....Pages 177-199 Nature of the Incommensurate Phase of Rb 2 ZnC l 4 ....Pages 201-206 New Phenomena in Incommensurate Barium Sodium Niobate: Memory and Relaxation Effects....Pages 207-212 Critical Fluctuauions and Magnetic Ordering in Praseodymium Metal....Pages 213-218 Soft Mode and Central Peak as A Consequence of Competing Interactions....Pages 219-220 Criticality and Crossover in Stuctural Phase Transitions....Pages 221-225 Anomalous Vibrational Absorption Near the Antiferroelectric Phase Transition in Alkali Cyanides....Pages 227-231 A Plenitude of Commensurate Phases in Simple Models....Pages 233-235 Commensurability, Chaos, and the Devil′s Staircase....Pages 237-263 The Complete Devil′s Staircase and Universality of Mode Locking Structures in Discrete Mappings....Pages 265-269 Low Temperature Analysis of the ANNNI Model in a Field....Pages 271-275 Field Behavior of Spin Models with Competing Interactions....Pages 277-281 Phase Transitions in Crystals with Competing Interactions....Pages 283-288 Commensurate Melting and Domain Walls in Surface Phases....Pages 289-291 The Role of Domain Walls in the Critical Behaviour of the Three-dimensional P-State Asymmetric Clock Model....Pages 293-300 Interfacial Adsorption in Multi-State Models....Pages 301-305 Vortex Pinning in Thin Superfluid Films....Pages 307-308 Theory of Critical Phenomena in Random Systems....Pages 309-327 Critical Behaviour of Disordered Ising Systems: Suppression of the Specific Heat Divergence at T c ....Pages 329-332 Disorder, Random Fields and Competing Interactions in Antiferromagnets....Pages 333-362 The Origins and Influences of the Spin-Glass Problem....Pages 363-372 Phase(?) Transitions in Systems with Spin Glass and Long-Range Order Regimes....Pages 373-378 Time Effects of the Field Cooled Magnetization of a Au(Fe) Spin Glass....Pages 379-382 Spin Glasses: Recent Theoretical Developments....Pages 383-397 Critical and Multicritical Points, Lines and Surfaces of Spin Glasses in the Presence of Magnetic Fields and Anisotropy....Pages 399-403 Some Renormalization Group Results on the Quenched Gauge Field Model of the Spin Glass....Pages 405-408 Frustration, Landau Levels and Superconducting Diamagnetism on Networks....Pages 409-421 Introduction to Chaos: Phenomenon, Structure of Spectra and Diffusion....Pages 423-450 Multicritical Behaviour of a Nonequilibrium System....Pages 451-460 Back Matter....Pages 461-472