{"record":{"author":{"account_ref":null,"orcid":null},"builds_on":[],"content_schema":"pubphys.content.revision/1","content_sha256":"7f7aacdcbfee7a33abb623d809c86e69a7da6e1b5e93ec1e82ef9726017881e2","created":"2026-10-15T23:43:22Z","files":[],"origin":{"assisted_by":["ai:gpt-5.5"],"kind":"seed"},"parents":["a75aa63fefe36fd7e03528aa9f5a7e569e85ec0ace5fba0ae27125e3082c95a8","ce59fb6cd812fc05906d0c60a71c75ea22bc686bcf38e7c3ef7010834d98ee7b"],"salt":"af224d9af2fff2281403de31c0753a270a105c32b72040c345398b2b217db316","schema":"pubphys.record/2","site":"pubphys.com","target":null,"type":"revision"},"content":{"answer_type":"classification","assisted_by":["ai:gpt-5.5"],"external_id":"cm.wigner-crystal-2d.intermediate-microemulsion","kind":"well-posed","literature_status":"contested","n":"2","parents":[],"plain":"Theory argues that with long-range Coulomb repulsion a sharp switch from liquid to crystal is impossible in two dimensions, so mixed phases of crystal bubbles or stripes should appear in between. Whether these microemulsion phases exist is disputed.","posed_since":"2004","precise":"Spivak and Kivelson (2004) argued that a direct first-order transition is forbidden in 2D with $1/r$ interactions, which implies intermediate microemulsion phases (bubbles, stripes) in a window of $r_s$ near $r_s$_c. Determine whether these phases exist in clean 2D jellium and in gated devices where the interaction is screened beyond the gate distance d, their width in $r_s$, and their observable signatures (transport anisotropy, compressibility, local density images).","problem_ref":"a75aa63fefe36fd7e03528aa9f5a7e569e85ec0ace5fba0ae27125e3082c95a8","references":"","settled_by":"Equilibrium imaging (scanning tunneling or optical) of mesoscale crystal and liquid domains in a clean $2\\mathrm{D}$ system as density is swept through r_s_c, with disorder shown to be too weak to pin them.","status_note":"Optical spectroscopy of a transition-metal dichalcogenide heterostructure claimed an intermediate electronic microemulsion phase (Sung et al., Nature Physics 21, 437, 2025); whether disorder rather than Coulomb frustration produces the coexistence is unresolved.","title":"Are there intermediate phases between the Wigner crystal and Fermi liquid?","topic_ref":null},"attested":{"attestation":{"batch":null,"client_id":null,"id_token_sha256":null,"kind":"platform"},"record_hash":"46f46943378f9ee23de88b189090e50791fb63c91bbcc86d0381f7afe962e473","schema":"pubphys.attested/1"},"envelope":{"attested_hash":"50ceb32288aa3da35bf3a2442dead46814136eed16db7cf6ba45074b3457fe6e","platform_signature":{"key_id":"c6afc19b31429869751f06879c75cd64ea92654423d15b44be775bf1310a60da","sig":"wk_7pMXCLXFjNCndq-VEgWqCxxi-4gKNlWnK-6-875i-RItgl88aMtAaC_l1c38-wUTdAcgvShcLTXIyxWTrAw"},"schema":"pubphys.envelope/1"},"record_hash":"46f46943378f9ee23de88b189090e50791fb63c91bbcc86d0381f7afe962e473","leaf_index":3106}