Dimensional transitions in small Yukawa clusters

Abstract

We provide the detailed analysis of structural transitions leading to the rapid changes in dimensionality of small Yukawa clusters. These transformations are induced by the variations in the shape of confinement as well as the screening strength. We show, that even in the most primitive systems composed of only a few strongly interacting particles, the order parameter exhibits a power-law behavior in the vicinity of the critical point of the continuous transition. The critical exponent \gamma=1/2 is found to be universal in all studied cases, which is consistent with the general theory of continuous phase transitions.