Non-congruent Phase Transitions in Cosmic Matter and in the Laboratory

Abstract

Non-congruence appears to be the most general form of phase transition in cosmic matter and in the laboratory. In terrestrial applications noncongruencemeans coexistence of phases with different chemical composition in systems consisting of two (or more) chemical elements. It is just the case for all phase transitions in high-temperature chemically reactive mixtures, which are typical for uranium-bearing compounds in many nuclear energy devices, both contemporary and perspective. As for cosmic matter, most of real and hypothetical phase transitions without nuclear reactions, i.e., those in the interiors of giant planets (solar and extrasolar), those in brown dwarfs and other sub-stellar objects, as well as in the outer crust of compact stars, are very plausible candidates for such type of phase transformations. Two exotic phase transitions, the gas-liquid phase transition in dense nuclear matter and the quark-hadron transition occuring in the interior of compact stars as well as in high-energy heavy-ion collisions are under discussion as the most extreme example of hypothetical non-congruence for phase transformations in High Energy Density Matter.