The effective interface potential V for nucleation of a superconducting surface layer in superconductors is derived as a function of the expelled magnetic moment M. We show that the associated variational problem with integral constraint is soluble, in contrast with the case of adsorbed fluids,...

Equilibrium wetting phase transitions and critical phenomena are discussed from a phenomenological point of view. The ubiquitous character of the wetting phase transition is illustrated through its occurrence in a variety of condensed matter systems, ranging from classical fluids to...

We derive a wall-interface potential V(Γ) for wetting phenomena, through minimization of the surface free energy under the constraint of fixed adsorption Γ. We show that the upper bound VBILB (Γ), previously proposed by Bukman et al. [Phys. Rev. B 47 (1993) 1577], is not the minimum. The...

Recent studies introduced biased (degree-dependent) edge percolation as a model for failures in real-life systems. In this work, such process is applied to networks consisting of two types of nodes with edges running only between nodes of unlike type. Such bipartite graphs appear in many social...

The prediction of van Leeuwen and Hauge of a non-universal exponent associated with the critical wetting transition in type-I superconductors is verified by numerical solution of the Ginzburg–Landau equations. Using their interface potential we also compare analytic and numerical results for...

In this Note a social network model for opinion formation is proposed in which a person connected to q partners pays an attention 1/q to each partner. The mutual attention between two connected persons i and j is taken equal to the geometric mean 1/qiqj. Opinion is represented as usual by an...

A simple first-order Kikuchi approximation is studied for the short-range (nearest-neighbour) version of the van Hemmen mean-field model originally proposed for spin-glasses. Although the approximation is very similar to the mean-field treatment, the phase diagrams from the two methods are...

We study the transition zone or contact line between a thin film and bulk liquid, and calculate the line tension τ, employing an interface displacement model equivalent to Derjaguin's and de Gennes' approach. We investigate the behaviour of τ in the limit that the contact angle ϑ tends to...

An interface displacement model is employed for calculating the line tension of a contact line where three phases meet. At a first-order wetting transition the line tension reaches a positive and finite limit if the intermolecular potentials decay faster than r−6. In contrast, for non-retarder...

A simulation approach to the stochastic growth of bacterial towers is presented, in which a non-uniform and finite nutrient supply essentially determines the emerging structure through elementary chemotaxis. The method is based on cellular automata and we use simple, microscopic, local rules for...