In physics, disordered systems are physical systems whose microscopic constituents (e.g., atoms, spins, impurities, or structural units) lack translational or orientational long-range order and are characterized by randomness in parameters such as positions, couplings, or local potentials. This quenched or annealed disorder crucially affects thermodynamic, transport, and dynamical properties, leading to phenomena such as Anderson localization, glassy dynamics, and complex energy landscapes. Disordered systems are modeled using probabilistic descriptions of disorder realizations and ensemble averages, often requiring techniques from statistical mechanics, random matrix theory, and renormalization group methods to analyze emergent macroscopic behavior and phase transitions in the presence of randomness.
Materials with self-adaptive mechanical responses have long been sought after in material science. Using computer simulations, researchers at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Hyderabad, now show how such ...
Soft Matter
May 19, 2025
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Although glasses exhibit disordered atomic structures, X-ray and neutron scattering reveal a subtle periodicity. Researchers at the University of Tsukuba have demonstrated that this hidden periodicity—referred to as "invisible ...
General Physics
May 16, 2025
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A surprising effect was discovered through a collaborative study by researchers from TU Wien and institutions in Croatia, France, Poland, Singapore, Switzerland, and the US during the investigation of a special material: ...
Superconductivity
May 14, 2025
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Crystals—from sugar and table salt to snowflakes and diamonds—don't always grow in a straightforward way. New York University researchers have captured this journey from amorphous blob to orderly structures in a new study ...
Nanomaterials
Apr 28, 2025
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A research team studied how iridium and palladium nanoparticles can change the properties of catalysts with minor degradation and transition to an amorphous state. The team includes Skoltech and Khakassian State University ...
Nanomaterials
Apr 9, 2025
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For centuries, humans have made use of glass in their art, tools, and technology. Despite the ubiquity of this material, however, many of its microscopic properties are not well understood, and it continues to defy conventional ...
Condensed Matter
Apr 7, 2025
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The melting of crystals is the process by which an increase in temperature induces the disruption of the ordered crystalline lattice, leading to the disordered structure and highly fluctuating dynamic behavior of liquids. ...
Researchers have uncovered a surprising phenomenon in the material BiNiO3: when subjected to high pressure at low temperatures, its well-arranged electrical charges are disrupted, leading to a disordered "charge glass" state.
Condensed Matter
Mar 17, 2025
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Why do avalanches start to slide? And what happens inside the "pile of snow?" If you ask yourself these questions, you are very close to a physical problem. This phenomenon not only occurs on mountain peaks and in snow masses, ...
Condensed Matter
Feb 17, 2025
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The Anderson transition is a phase transition that occurs in disordered systems, which entails a shift from a diffusive state (i.e., in which waves or particles are spread out) to a localized state, in which they are trapped ...
