English

Density fluctuations and the structure of a nonuniform hard sphere fluid

Statistical Mechanics 2009-10-31 v1 Soft Condensed Matter

Abstract

We derive an exact equation for density changes induced by a general external field that corrects the hydrostatic approximation where the local value of the field is adsorbed into a modified chemical potential. Using linear response theory to relate density changes self-consistently in different regions of space, we arrive at an integral equation for a hard sphere fluid that is exact in the limit of a slowly varying field or at low density and reduces to the accurate Percus-Yevick equation for a hard core field. This and related equations give accurate results for a wide variety of fields.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0008124,
  title  = {Density fluctuations and the structure of a nonuniform hard sphere fluid},
  author = {Kirill Katsov and John D. Weeks},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0008124},
  year   = {2009}
}