Related papers: Sticky-sphere clusters
We present a model for sticky particles in which cluster sizes after a reaction have $\ell$ fewer total particles than the sum of their reactants. The finite particle system is modeled as a Markov process under a mean-field assumption for…
Particle systems interacting with a soft repulsion, at thermal equilibrium and under some circumstances, are known to form cluster crystals, i.e. periodic arrangements of particle aggregates. We study here how these states are modified by…
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…
We present a study combining experimental measurements, theoretical analysis, and simulations to investigate core-shell microcapsules interacting with a solid boundary, with a particular focus on understanding the short-range potential…
We study the optimal packing of short, hard spherocylinders confined to lie tangential to a spherical surface, using simulated annealing and molecular dynamics simulations. For clusters of up to twelve particles, we map out the changes in…
This contribution is concerned with the effective viscosity problem, that is, the homogenization of the steady Stokes system with a random array of rigid particles, for which the main difficulty is the treatment of close particles. Standard…
We show through rigorous calculations that dielectric microspheres can be organized by an incident electromagnetic plane wave into stable cluster configurations, which we call photonic molecules. The long-range optical binding force arises…
Contacts between particles in dense, sheared suspensions are believed to underpin much of their rheology. Roughness and adhesion are known to constrain the relative motion of particles, and thus globally affect the shear response, but an…
Numerous soft materials jam into an amorphous solid at high packing fraction. This non-equilibrium phase transition is best understood in the context of a model system in which particles repel elastically when they overlap. Recently,…
The static friction between crystalline surfaces separated by a molecularly thin layer of adsorbed molecules is calculated using molecular dynamics simulations. These molecules naturally lead to a finite static friction that is consistent…
The formation of colloidal gels is strongly dependent on the volume fraction of the system and the strength of the interactions between the colloids. Here we explore very dilute solutions by the means of numerical simulations, and show…
Gels in soft-matter systems are an important nonergodic state of matter. We study a colloid-polymer mixture which is quenched by increasing the polymer concentration, from a fluid to a gel. Using confocal microscopy, we study both the…
Nanoparticles with "sticky patches" have long been proposed as building blocks for the self-assembly of complex structures. The synthetic realizability of such patchy particles, however, greatly lags behind predictions of patterns they…
Strongly interacting binary mixtures of superparamagnetic colloidal particles confined to a two-dimensional water-air interface are examined by theory, computer simulation and experiment. The mixture exhibits a partial clustering in…
We study the formation and growth of equilibrium clusters in a suspension of weakly-charged colloidal particles and small non-adsorbing polymers. The effective potential is characterised by a short-range attraction and a long-range…
Superconductivity, superfluidity, condensation, cluster formation, etc. are phenomena that might occur in many-particle systems. These are due to residual interactions between the particles. To explain these phenomena consistently in a…
The elastic and capillary interactions between a pair of colloidal particles trapped on top of a nematic film are studied theoretically for large separations $d$. The elastic interaction is repulsive and of quadrupolar type, varying as…
A novel experimental scheme has been developed in order to measure the heat capacity of mass selected clusters. It is based on controlled sticking of atoms on clusters. This allows one to construct the caloric curve, thus determining the…
Dynamical behavior of steady granular flow is investigated numerically in the inelastic hard sphere limit of the soft sphere model. We find distinctively different limiting behaviors for the two flow regimes, i.e., the collisional flow and…
Colloidal gels are widely applied in industry due to their rheological character -- no flow takes place below the yield stress. Such property enables gels to maintain uniform distribution in practical formulations; otherwise, solid…