cond-mat.stat-mech papers

Statistical mechanics explores how the chaotic motion of countless tiny particles gives rise to the predictable laws governing heat, pressure, and phase transitions. This field bridges the gap between the microscopic world of atoms and the macroscopic reality we experience daily, offering deep insights into why materials behave the way they do.

On Gist.Science, we process every new preprint in this category as it appears on arXiv to make these complex findings accessible to everyone. For each paper, we provide both a plain-language explanation for the curious reader and a detailed technical summary for specialists, ensuring that groundbreaking research is never lost behind a wall of jargon.

Below are the latest papers in statistical mechanics, freshly curated and summarized to help you understand the cutting edge of this fascinating discipline.

Finding the right path: statistical mechanics of connected solutions in constraint satisfaction problems

This paper introduces a novel statistical mechanics ensemble based on local entropy bias to characterize connected solutions in constraint satisfaction problems, revealing a stable cluster of delocalized solutions in the symmetric binary perceptron model that persists up to a critical threshold where solution paths shatter, a phenomenon confirmed by both theoretical analysis and modified Monte-Carlo simulations.

Damien Barbier2026-04-17🔬 cond-mat

Skyrmion-vortex pairing and vortex-drag induced Skyrmion Hall effect

This paper proposes a theoretical framework for a two-dimensional ferromagnetic superconductor where an attractive interaction between Skyrmions and vortices leads to the formation of bound pairs, resulting in a novel "vortex-drag induced Skyrmion Hall effect" where a Magnus force on the vortex drives a transverse drift of the Skyrmion.

Shantonu Mukherjee2026-04-17⚛️ hep-th

Operator Space Transport and the Emergence of Boundary Time Crystals

This paper introduces a fully quantum framework based on irreducible tensor representations to classify collective spin dynamics, revealing that boundary time crystals emerge from non-reciprocal operator space transport caused by the absence of non-trivial weak symmetries in the Liouvillian.

Dominik Nemeth, Ahsan Nazir, Robert-Jan Slager, Alessandro Principi2026-04-17⚛️ quant-ph

Revealing the physical structure of the general quantum master equation

This paper reveals that general quantum dynamics, without relying on weak coupling or energy conservation assumptions, can be fundamentally decomposed into free evolution, exchanges of non-commuting generalized charges, and pure dephasing, thereby unifying strong coupling, particle exchange, and non-Abelian effects under a single physical framework that necessitates a non-commuting term in the generalized Gibbs state.

Eugenia Pyurbeeva, Ronnie Kosloff2026-04-17⚛️ quant-ph

Persistent Free Volume Governs (Anti-)plasticization in Chitosan-Water Mixtures

Using molecular dynamics simulations, this study reveals that the transition from antiplasticization to plasticization in chitosan-water mixtures is governed by the connectivity of dynamically accessible free volume regions, which modulates the competition between weakened polymer-polymer and enhanced polymer-water interactions to dictate the material's elastic properties.

Baris E. Ugur, Michael A. Webb2026-04-17🔬 cond-mat.mtrl-sci

Emergence of Open Chemical Reaction Network Thermodynamics within Closed Systems

This paper demonstrates that the dynamics and thermodynamics of open chemical reaction networks emerge as an asymptotic regime from underlying closed systems when specific conditions of time-scale and abundance separation are met, thereby establishing chemostats as emergent structures rather than external idealizations.

Benedikt Remlein, Massimiliano Esposito, Francesco Avanzini2026-04-17🔬 cond-mat

Quantum instanton approach to metastable collective spins

This paper develops a real-time quantum instanton approach based on quasiprobability dynamics to accurately describe the stationary states and relaxation rate scaling of metastable collective spin systems, overcoming the limitations of previous semiclassical Wigner methods by properly accounting for non-Gaussian fluctuations.

Krzysztof Ptaszynski, Maciej Chudak, Massimiliano Esposito2026-04-17🔬 cond-mat.mes-hall

Kardar-Parisi-Zhang physics in optically-confined continuous polariton condensates

This paper proposes and numerically demonstrates that Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) universality, characterized by specific scaling exponents and Tracy-Widom statistics, emerges intrinsically in continuous quasi-one-dimensional polariton condensates stabilized by optical confinement, extending the phenomenon beyond previously observed discrete lattices.

Mikhail Misko, Natalia Starkova, Pavlos G. Lagoudakis2026-04-17🔬 cond-mat

Passivity-Driven Order--Disorder Transitions in Self-Aligning Active Matter

This study demonstrates that the passive fraction in dense mixtures of self-aligning active and passive disks acts as a critical control parameter driving distinct continuous or discontinuous order-disorder transitions, with isotropic and anisotropic mobility leading to fundamentally different metastable dynamics and attractor behaviors.

Weizhen Tang, Amir Shee, Zhangang Han, Pawel Romanczuk, Yating Zheng, Cristián Huepe2026-04-17🔬 cond-mat

Universal principles of cell population growth follow from local contact inhibition

This paper unifies five classical tumor growth laws (exponential, radial, fractal, generalized logistic, and Gompertzian) by demonstrating that they all emerge from a single microscopic agent-based model where local contact inhibition interacts with specific population assumptions, thereby explaining the universal growth patterns observed in heterogeneous cancer cell populations.

Gregory J. Kimmel, Sadegh Marzban, Mehdi Damaghi, Arne Traulsen, Alexander R. A. Anderson, Jeffrey West, Philipp M. Altrock2026-04-16🧬 q-bio

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