Corberi F, Marconi UMB<br/>
<dd>
<b> Self-consistent solution of a 
continuum model for phase-ordering kinetics in self-assembled fluids</b> <br/>

NUOVO CIMENTO DELLA SOCIETA ITALIANA DI FISICA D-CONDENSED MATTER 
ATOMIC MOLECULAR AND CHEMICAL PHYSICS FLUIDS PLASMAS BIOPHYSICS 20 (12BIS): 
2491-2498 DEC 1998<br/>
<dd>
Abstract: The time evolution of an N-component model of bicontinuous
microemulsions based on a time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equation is
considered. The model is solved in the framework of the large-N limit
approach with both conserved (COP) and non-conserved order parameter
(NCOP) dynamics. The equilibrium phase-diagram displays a
low-temperature ordered "ferromagnetic" phase with infinite
correlation length and a disordered phase with finite coherence
length. Within the disordered phase two different regimes can be
identified corresponding to a "paramagnetic" and a microemulsion
phase. The latter is divided in two regions by the Lifshitz line which
separates a regime with a structure factor peaked around k(m) = 0 from
one with k(m) > 0. Lamellar states are also observed at vanishing
temperature in the structured region. The behavior of the dynamical
structure factor C((k) over right arrow, t) is obtained, for a system
quenched from a high-temperature uncorrelated state to the
low-temperature phases. At zero temperature the system exhibits a
behavior analogous to the one observed in simple fluids in the
unstructured region. In the structured phase, instead, the
conservation law is found to be irrelevant and the form C((k) over
right arrow, t) similar to t(alpha / z) f(\k - k(m)\t(1 / z)), with
alpha = 1 and z = 2 is obtained both for NCOP and COP. For quenches
near the tricritical point an interesting pattern of different
preasymptotic behaviors in identified. Simple scaling relations are
also derived for the structure factor as a function of the temperature
of the final state.