Related papers: Microphase separation as the cause of structural c…
Recent studies aimed at investigating artificial analogs of bacterial colonies have shown that low-density suspensions of self-propelled particles confined in two dimensions can assemble into finite aggregates that merge and split, but have…
We have investigated the effect of a disordered porous matrix on the cluster microphase formation of a two dimensional system where particles interact via competing interactions. To this end we have performed extensive Monte Carlo…
One of the most interesting phenomena in the soft-matter realm consists in the spontaneous formation of super-molecular structures (microphases) in condition of thermodynamic equilibrium. A simple mechanism responsible for this…
Diffusioosmotic flow arises in microfluidic configurations due to solute concentration gradients. In soft microfluidic channels, internal pressure gradients generated by diffusioosmotic flow to conserve mass result in elastic deformation of…
The formation of clusters in supercooled liquids close to the glass transition temperature is described by rate equations in which the coefficients are determined on physical grounds rather than in terms of thermodynamic quantities such as…
The conventional wisdom is that liquids are completely disordered and lack non-trivial structure beyond nearest-neighbor distances. Recent observations have upended this view and demonstrated that the microstructure in liquids is…
We use the isoconfigurational (IC) ensemble to show the connection between emerging heterogeneities in the tetrahedral order parameter and the dynamic propensity in a mildly undercooled glass-forming liquid. We observe that spatially…
The morphologies of two-dimensional (2D) crystals, nucleated, grown, and integrated within 2D elastic fluids, for instance in giant vesicle membranes, are dictated by an interplay of mechanics, permeability, and thermal contraction.…
The structural dynamics of ice in the freezing - thawing process has been studied in the context of the concept of two-phase water. It was previously shown that water is a two-phase system consisting of free and bound (liquid crystal)…
The sluggish and heterogeneous dynamics of glass forming liquids is frequently associated to the transient coexistence of two phases of particles, respectively with an high and low mobility. In the absence of a dynamical order parameter…
We study numerically the crystallization of a hard-sphere mixture with 8\% polydispersity. Although often used as a model glass former, for small system sizes we observe crystallization in molecular dynamics simulations. This opens the…
We develop a framework for understanding the difference between strong and fragile behavior in the dynamics of glass-forming liquids from the properties of the potential energy landscape. Our approach is based on a master equation…
We investigate the formation of cluster crystals with multiply occupied lattice sites on a spherical surface in systems of ultra-soft particles interacting via repulsive, bounded pair potentials. Not all interactions of this kind lead to…
Proteins and nucleic acids can spontaneously self-assemble into membraneless droplet-like compartments, both in vitro and in vivo. A key component of these droplets are multi-valent proteins that possess several adhesive domains with…
We review understanding of kinetics of fluid phase separation in various space dimensions. Morphological differences, percolating or disconnected, based on overall composition in a binary liquid or density in a vapor-liquid system, have…
The phase behavior is investigated for systems composed of a large number of macromolecular components N, with N greater or equal to 2. Liquid-liquid phase separation is modelled using a virial expansion up to the second order of the…
A characteristic property of many soft matter systems is an ultrasoft effective interaction between their structural units. This softness often leads to complex behavior. In particular, ultrasoft systems under pressure demonstrate…
Complex crystal structures are composed of multiple local environments, and how this type of order emerges spontaneously during crystal growth has yet to be fully understood. We study crystal growth across various structures and along…
Phases with distinct thermodynamic properties must differ in their underlying distributions of microscopic structures. While ordered phases are readily distinguished by unit cells and space groups, the local structural basis differentiating…
We examine the physical processes which are involved in the formation and stability of the anomalous states of water reported recently. The initial step of adding a small amount of ionic compound XY to pure water leads to the formation of…