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Renormalization-group analysis of the smectic-A1–smectic-Ad phase transition in liquid crystals

Prabir K. Mukherjee

  • Department of Physics, University of Calcutta, 92 Acharya Prafulla Chandra Road, Calcutta 700 009, India

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Phys. Rev. E 52, 1743 – Published 1 August, 1995

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.52.1743

Abstract

The present paper develops the renormalization-group techniques to analyze the phase transition between the smectic-A1 and smectic-Ad phases of liquid crystals. This transition exhibits a bicritical or a tetracritical point, depending upon the number of components (n) of the order parameter. For n≤3 an isotropic or Heisenberg fixed point dominates and gives bicritical behavior. However, for n≥4 a new fixed point, with irrational ɛ expansion coefficients, becomes stable and describes tetracritical behavior. The critical exponents are calculated to first order in ɛ.

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Phys. Rev. E 52, 1743– Published 1 August, 1995
  • Received 24 April 1995

© 1995 American Physical Society

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