Apparent phase transitions and critical-like behavior in multi-component mixtures

TL;DR

This paper uses statistical mechanics to demonstrate that finite size effects in multicomponent mixtures can mimic critical behavior, providing insights into phase separation phenomena relevant to cellular organization.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of apparent transitions caused by finite size effects, explaining how they can resemble true critical points in multicomponent systems.

Findings

Finite size effects induce apparent critical-like behavior.

Apparent transition temperature aligns with ambient temperature.

Provides a framework for understanding phase separation in biological systems.

Abstract

Liquid-liquid phase separation has recently emerged as an important topic in the context of cellular organization. Within this context, there are multiple poorly understood features; for instance hints of critical behavior in the plasma membrane, and how homeostasis maintains phase separation. In this paper, using statistical mechanics, we show that finite size effects in multicomponent mixtures can induce the system to behave as-if it were near a critical point, which we term apparent transitions. The apparent transition temperature is naturally driven towards the ambient temperature of the system.