Mixed phases during the phase transitions

Understand

Quest for a new form of matter inside compact stars compels us to examine the thermodynamical properties of the phase transitions.

• We closely consider the first-order phase transitions and the phase equilibrium on the basis of the Gibbs conditions, taking the liquid-gas phase transition in asymmetric nuclear matter as an example.
• Characteristic features of the mixed phase are figured out by solving the coupled equations for mean-fields and densities of constituent particles self-consistently within the Thomas-Fermi approximation.
• The mixed phase is inhomogeneous matter composed of two phases in equilibrium; it takes a crystalline structure with a unit of various geometrical shapes, inside of which one phase with a characteristic shape, called "pasta", is embedded in another phase by some volume fraction.