Information geometry, phase transitions, and the Widom line: Magnetic and liquid systems

We study information geometry of the thermodynamics of first and second order phase transitions, and beyond criticality, in magnetic and liquid systems. We establish a universal microscopic characterization of such phase transitions via a conjectured equality of the correlation lengths xi in co-existing phases, where xi is related to the scalar curvature of the equilibrium thermodynamic state space. The 1-D Ising model, and the mean-field Curie Weiss model are discussed, and we show that information geometry correctly describes the phase behavior for the latter. The Widom lines for these systems are also established. We further study a toy model for the thermodynamics of liquid liquid phase co-existence, and show that our method provides a simple and direct way to obtain its phase behavior and the location of the Widom line. Our analysis points towards the possibility of multiple Widom lines in liquid systems. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.