Symmetry breaking in confined fluids

The recent progress in the theoretical investigation of the symmetry breaking (the existence of a stable state of a system, in which the symmetry is lower than the symmetry of the system itself) for classical and quantum fluids is reviewed. The emphasis is on the conditions which cause symmetry breaking in the density distribution for one component fluids and binary mixtures confined in a closed nanoslit between identical solid walls. The existing studies have revealed that two kinds of symmetry breaking can occur in such systems. First, a one-dimensional symmetry breaking occurs only in the direction normal to the walls as a fluid density profile asymmetric with respect of the middle of the slit and uniform in any direction parallel to the walls. Second, a two-dimensional symmetry breaking occurs in the fluid density distribution which is nonuniform in one of the directions parallel to the walls and asymmetrical in the direction normal to the walls. It manifests through liquid bumps and bridges in the fluid density distribution. For one component fluids, conditions of existence of symmetry breaking are provided in terms of the average fluid density, strength of fluid–solid interactions, distance at which the solid wall generates a hard core repulsion, and temperature. In the case of binary mixtures, the occurrence of symmetry breaking also depends on the composition of the confined mixtures.