{"record":{"author":{"account_ref":null,"orcid":null},"builds_on":[],"content_schema":"pubphys.content.revision/1","content_sha256":"4c54b15878c926cbaa15c97e55b9ce83425cbaed0463de4e3e7e436702a2a2ef","created":"2026-10-03T07:18:01Z","files":[],"origin":{"assisted_by":[],"kind":"seed"},"parents":["5475cf5dc5b1a72283d26dc95dc6e00d7ea4e00096a7c6492e409a1816eeb011"],"salt":"3051fccad12e1cab15bf8110a4eb4f64beb0426f137a558a8aebf6989adfaa43","schema":"pubphys.record/2","site":"pubphys.com","target":null,"type":"revision"},"content":{"answer_type":"classification","assisted_by":[],"external_id":"cm.wigner-crystal-2d.intermediate-microemulsion","kind":"well-posed","literature_status":"contested","n":"1","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":null,"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":"0172a4875504d269442a9c602dc559b0e1b689d7513bab808338a3559e713e6c"},"attested":{"attestation":{"batch":null,"client_id":null,"id_token_sha256":null,"kind":"platform"},"record_hash":"a75aa63fefe36fd7e03528aa9f5a7e569e85ec0ace5fba0ae27125e3082c95a8","schema":"pubphys.attested/1"},"envelope":{"attested_hash":"dcdd6e6854eb72410c1c79891459379f10d39ec61161b28fa9d41bd96f9df687","platform_signature":{"key_id":"c6afc19b31429869751f06879c75cd64ea92654423d15b44be775bf1310a60da","sig":"Uwme6fBCfiNaOg8A4Ay7bJF8b3zwNgDCmEwLoOGWprmxi0JO6Hgahy6MmPKSVn_wZB2zm1ac7zp8qJK8MNCECA"},"schema":"pubphys.envelope/1"},"record_hash":"a75aa63fefe36fd7e03528aa9f5a7e569e85ec0ace5fba0ae27125e3082c95a8","leaf_index":1220}