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A full equilibrium treatment of molecular aggregation is presented for prototypes of 1D and 3D aggregates, with and without nucleation. By skipping complex kinetic parameters like aggregate size-dependent diffusion, the equilibrium…
Quantum crystals abound in the whole range of solid-state species. Below a certain threshold temperature the physical behavior of rare gases (4He and Ne), molecular solids (H2 and CH4), and some ionic (LiH), covalent (graphite), and…
The dynamical arrest of attractive colloidal particles into out-of-equilibrium structures, known as gelation, is central to biophysics, materials science, nanotechnology, and food and cosmetic applications, but a complete understanding is…
We perform large shell model calculations for Calcium isotopes in the full fp shell by using the realistic Kuo-Brown interaction. The Calcium isotopes are especially interesting because the nearest-neighbour spacing distribution P(s) of…
Homogeneous nucleation of a new phase near a second, continuous, transition, is considered. The continuous transition is in the metastable region associated with the first-order phase transition, one of whose coexisting phases is…
A full understanding of polycrystalline materials requires studying the process of nucleation, a thermally activated phase transition that typically occurs at atomistic scales. The numerical modeling of this process is problematic for…
We theoretically investigate homogeneous crystal nucleation in a solution containing a solute and a volatile solvent. The solvent evaporates from the solution, thereby continuously increasing the concentration of the solute. We view it as…
The growth of crystals confined in porous or cellular materials is ubiquitous in Nature and industry. Confinement affects the formation of biominerals in living organisms, of minerals in the Earth's crust and of salt crystals damaging…
We report a numerical study of the rate of crystal nucleation in a binary suspension of oppositely charged colloids. Two different crystal structures compete in the thermodynamic conditions under study. We find that the crystal phase that…
Over recent years, molecular simulations have provided invaluable insights into the microscopic processes governing the initial stages of crystal nucleation and growth. A key aspect that has been observed in many different systems is the…
The classical theory of grain nucleation suffers from both theoretical and predictive deficiencies. We strive to alleviate these deficiencies in our understanding of dust formation and growth by utilizing an atomistic model of nucleation.…
Nucleation is considered to be the first step in dust and cloud formation in the atmospheres of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars, exoplanets, and brown dwarfs. In these environments dust and cloud particles grow to macroscopic sizes when…
We report simulations on the homogeneous liquid-fcc nucleation of charged colloids for both low and high contact energy values. As a precursor for crystal formation, we observe increased local order at the position where the crystal will…
In studying solidification process by simulations on the atomic scale, the modeling of crystal nucleation or amorphisation requires the construction of interatomic interactions that are able to reproduce the properties of both the solid and…
Micrometre sized colloidal particles can be viewed as large atoms with tailorable size, shape and interactions. These building blocks can assemble into extremely rich structures and phases, in which the thermal motions of particles can be…
We present precision Monte Carlo data and analytic arguments for an asymmetric exclusion process, involving two species of particles driven in opposite directions on a $2 \times L$ lattice. We propose a scenario which resolves a stark…
Understanding the underlying mechanism of crystal nucleation during solidification is a fundamental aspect in the prediction and control of materials properties. Classical nucleation theory (CNT) assumes that homogeneous nucleation occurs…
An experimental and theoretical study on the structure and energetics of stellated gold clusters at several sizes is presented. Systematic molecular dynamics simulations on Kepler-Poisont classified clusters are performed based on…
Understanding the mechanism of nucleation of the stable phase inside the metastable parent phase during a first order phase transition has been a subject of outstanding interest in natural science. The problem becomes even more challenging…
We study the nucleation of nearly-hard charged colloidal particles. We use Monte Carlo simulations in combination with free-energy calculations to accurately predict the phase diagrams of these particles and map them via the freezing…