Vladimir Dmitriev

Discontinuous (first-order) phase transitions constitute the most fundamental and widespread type of structural transitions existing in Nature, forming a large majority of the transitions found in elemental crystals, alloys, inorganic compounds, minerals and complex fluids. Nevertheless, only a small part of them, namely, weakly discontinuous transformations, were considered by phenomenological theories, leaving aside the most interesting from a theoretical point of view and the most important for application cases. Discontinuous Phase Transitions in Condensed Matter introduces a density-wave approach to phase transitions which results in a unified, symmetry-based, model-free theory of the weak crystallization of molecular mixtures to liquid-crystalline mesophases, strongly discontinuous crystallization from molten metals and alloys to conventional, fully segregated crystals, to aperiodic, quasi-crystalline structures. Assembly of aperiodic closed virus capsids with non-crystallographic symmetry also falls into the domain of applicability of the density-wave approach. The book also considers the applicability domains of the symmetry-based approach in physics of low-dimensional systems. It includes comparisons of stability of different surface superstructures and metal monoatomic coverage structures on the surface of single-crystalline substrates. The example of the twisted graphene bilayer demonstrates how parametrization in the spirit of an advanced phenomenological approach can establish symmetry-controlled, and therefore model-free, links between geometrical parameters of the twisted bilayer structure and reconstruction of its Brillouin zone and energy bands.

Ocherednaja kniga serii "Puteshestvie v proshloe" posvjaschena sobytijam Sovetsko-finskoj vojny 1939-1940 gg., kotoruju chasto takzhe imenujut Zimnej. Rasskazy adresovany detjam srednego i starshego shkolnogo vozrasta, no mogut byt takzhe interesny i vzroslym.

Translation of the title in English: Warriors of Ahuramazda. Warfare of Sassanid Iran. Dannaja kniga predstavljaet soboj unikalnoe dlja otechestvennoj istoriografii kompleksnoe i vsestoronnee issledovanie voennogo iskusstva i voennoj istorii sasanidskogo Irana. Na osnove shirokogo kruga istochnikov i nauchnoj literatury avtor podrobno analiziruet voennoe delo persov sasanidskoj epokhi s tochki zrenija sostava, organizatsii, vooruzhenija, tekhnicheskogo osnaschenija persidskoj armii, strategii i taktiki ee dejstvij. Otdelnoe vnimanie udeleno istorii voenno-politicheskogo protivostojanija Sasanidskoj derzhavy i Rimskoj (Vizantijskoj) imperii, v techenie bolee chem chetyrekh stoletij (s pervoj poloviny III do serediny VII vv.) opredeljavshego geopoliticheskuju situatsiju na Blizhnem i Srednem Vostoke i sopredelnykh regionakh. Izdanie adresovano kak spetsialistami, tak i vsem, interesujuschimisja istoriej voennogo iskusstva. Redaktor: Nikonorov V. P.

This book deals with the phenomenological theory of first-order structural phase transitions, with a special emphasis on reconstructive transformations in which a group-subgroup relationship between the symmetries of the phases is absent. It starts with a unified presentation of the current approach to first-order phase transitions, using the more recent results of the Landau theory of phase transitions and of the theory of singularities. A general theory of reconstructive phase transitions is then formulated, in which the structures surrounding a transition are expressed in terms of density-waves, providing a natural definition of the transition order-parameters, and a description of the corresponding phase diagrams and relevant physical properties. The applicability of the theory is illustrated by a large number of concrete examples pertaining to the various classes of reconstructive transitions: allotropic transformations of the elements, displacive and order-disorder transformations in metals, alloys and related structures, crystal-quasicrystal transformations.