Related papers: Solid-solid transition of the size-polydisperse ha…
Most of the liquid-state theories, including glass-transition theories, are constructed on the basis of two-body density correlations. However, we have recently shown that many-body correlations, in particular bond orientational…
Liquid-solid phase transition and the change of the frictional force of a system with two hard spheres in a two-dimensional rectangular box are discussed. Under controlling the pressure or the supply of energy from the wall, the solid like…
Confinement can have a considerable effect on the behavior of particle systems, and is therefore an effective way to discover new phenomena. A notable example is a system of identical bosons at low temperature under an external field…
It is well known that the increase of the spatial dimensionality enhances the fluid-fluid demixing of a binary mixture of hard hyperspheres, i.e. the demixing occurs for lower mixture size asymmetry as compared to the three-dimensional…
Slow dynamics in a fluid are studied in one of the most basic systems possible: polydisperse hard spheres. Monodisperse hard spheres cannot be studied as the slow down in dynamics as the density is increased is preempted by crystallisation.…
For particles confined to two dimensions, any curvature of the surface affects the structural, kinetic and thermodynamic properties of the system. If the curvature is non-uniform, an even richer range of behaviours can emerge. Using a…
We use polydispersity in size as a control parameter to explore certain aspects of melting and freezing transitions in a system of Lennard-Jones spheres. Both analytical theory and computer simulations are employed to establish a…
We derive a phase diagram for amorphous solids and liquid supercooled water and explain why the amorphous solids of water exist in several different forms. Application of large-deviation theory allows us to prepare such phases in computer…
The kinetics of phase transition processes often governs the resulting material microstruc-ture. Using optical microscopy, we here investigate the formation and stabilization of a po-rous crystalline microstructure forming in low-salt…
Using Kinetic Monte Carlo simulation, we model gas-liquid spinodal decomposition in a size-polydisperse square well fluid, representing a 'near-monodisperse' colloidal dispersion. We find that fractionation (demixing) of particle sizes…
The thermodynamic stability of the hard-sphere gas has been examined, using the formalism of scaled particle theory [SPT], and by applying explicitly the conditions of stability required by both the second and third laws of thermodynamics.…
When a system undergoes a transition from a liquid to a solid phase, it passes through multiple intermediate structures before reaching the final state. However, our knowledge on the exact pathways of this process is limited, mainly due to…
We have carried out molecular dynamics simulations of the crystallization of hard spheres modelling colloidal systems that are studied in conventional and space-based experiments. We use microscopic probes to investigate the effects of…
The pressure-temperature phase diagram of a one-component system, with particles interacting through a spherically symmetric pair potential in two dimensions is studied. The interaction consists of a hard core plus an additional repulsion…
A polymer chain tethered to a surface may be compact or extended, adsorbed or desorbed, depending on interactions with the surface and the surrounding solvent. This leads to a rich phase diagram with a variety of transitions. To investigate…
We examine sedimentation density profiles of star polymer solutions as an example of colloidal systems in sedimentation equilibrium which exhibit reentrant melting in their bulk phase diagram. Phase transitions between a fluid and a fluid…
We give a simple description of a zero-temperature phase transition between a liquid metal and a solid. The critical point has a Fermi surface as well as a Bose surface, a sphere in momentum space of gapless bosonic excitations. We find a…
The study of the properties of glass-forming liquids is difficult for many reasons. Analytic solutions of mean field models are usually available only for systems embedded in a space with an unphysically high number of spatial dimensions;…
The ground state of solid $^4$He is studied using the diffusion Monte Carlo method and a new trial wave function able to describe the supersolid. The new wave function is symmetric under the exchange of particles and reproduces the…
A quantum Monte Carlo simulation of a system of hard rods in one dimension is presented and discussed. The calculation is exact since the analytical form of the wavefunction is known, and is in excellent agreement with predictions obtained…