Cooperative Origin of Low-Density Domains in Liquid Water
Statistical Mechanics
2009-11-07 v1 Soft Condensed Matter
Abstract
We study the size of clusters formed by water molecules possessing large enough tetrahedrality with respect to their nearest neighbors. Using Monte Carlo simulation of the SPC/E model of water, together with a geometric analysis based on Voronoi tessellation, we find that regions of lower density than the bulk are formed by accretion of molecules into clusters exceeding a minimum size. Clusters are predominantly linear objects and become less compact as they grow until they reach a size beyond which further accretion is not accompanied by a density decrease. The results suggest that the formation of "ice-like" regions in liquid water is cooperative.
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0206354,
title = {Cooperative Origin of Low-Density Domains in Liquid Water},
author = {Jeffrey R. Errington and Pablo G. Debenedetti and Salvatore Torquato},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0206354},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
16 pages, 6 figures