Premonitory effects near critical transition temperature in ordering systems – a monte carlo simulation

Premonitory effects manifest themselves in an ordering transition of the first kind (order) in the form of anomalously high short-range order (SRO) intensity at temperatures marginally above Tc, the critical transition temperature. This intensity located at the superlattice positions of the long-range ordered (LRO) phase is often attributed to the formation of ‘heterophase fluctuations’ resembling clusters of the LRO phase. Monte Carlo simulations in a hypothetical system showing FCC-to-L1₂ ordering transition have been carried out here to shed some light on this phenomenon and to look into the atomic configurations that make up these fluctuations. 92.