Abstract
A system close to a bulk phase transition presents peculiar response to external boundaries, a single wall may induce the presence of wetting layers, with the appearance of a surface phase transition and critical point. The confinement of the system between the two parallel walls or cylindrical tube, produces a shift of the bulk phase transition, which may be observed in a gravitational field as the capillary rise. The two phenomena may interact: the capillary properties are strongly affected by the wetting regime and the prewetting transition may be frustated by the capillary shift of the bulk transition. Symmetry breaking phase transitions present also the competition between conmensurate and inconmensurate structures which produce a richer variety of phenomena.
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