Polarity Formation in Molecular Crystals as a Symmetry Breaking Effect

Author: Cannavacciuolo Luigi   Hulliger Jürg  

Publisher: MDPI

E-ISSN: 2073-8994|8|3|10-10

ISSN: 2073-8994

Source: Symmetry, Vol.8, Iss.3, 2016-03, pp. : 10-10

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Abstract

The transition of molecular crystals into a polar state is modeled by a one-dimensional Ising Hamiltonian in multipole expansion and a suitable order parameter. Two symmetry breakings are necessary for the transition: the translational and the spin flip invariance—the former being broken by geometric constraints, the latter by the interaction of the first non-zero multipole with the next order multipole. Two different behaviors of the thermal average of the order parameter as a function of position are found. The free energy per lattice site converges to a finite value in the thermodynamic limit showing the consistency of the model in a macroscopic representation.