On the nonexistence of a liquid-gas critical point and the existence of a supercritical mesophase

Abstract

We find a thermodynamic description of gas-liquid criticality that is different from van der Waals and mean-field theories. At the critical temperature there is no critical point; a liquid phase coexists with a vapor phase with densities determined by an intersection of 2nd-order percolation transition loci. There is a line of critical states of constant chemical potential at temperatures above which there exists a supercritical mesophase, and below which there is the familiar two-phase liquid-vapor coexistence region.