1,107 research outputs found
Local orientational ordering in fluids of spherical molecules with dipolar-like anisotropic adhesion
We discuss some interesting physical features stemming from our previous
analytical study of a simple model of a fluid with dipolar-like interactions of
very short range in addition to the usual isotropic Baxter potential for
adhesive spheres. While the isotropic part is found to rule the global
structural and thermodynamical equilibrium properties of the fluid, the weaker
anisotropic part gives rise to an interesting short-range local ordering of
nearly spherical condensation clusters, containing short portions of chains
having nose-to-tail parallel alignment which runs antiparallel to adjacent
similar chains.Comment: 13 pages and 6 figure
A pseudo-spectral approach to inverse problems in interface dynamics
An improved scheme for computing coupling parameters of the
Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation from a collection of successive interface
profiles, is presented. The approach hinges on a spectral representation of
this equation. An appropriate discretization based on a Fourier representation,
is discussed as a by-product of the above scheme. Our method is first tested on
profiles generated by a one-dimensional Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation where it
is shown to reproduce the input parameters very accurately. When applied to
microscopic models of growth, it provides the values of the coupling parameters
associated with the corresponding continuum equations. This technique favorably
compares with previous methods based on real space schemes.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, revtex 3.0 with epsf style, to appear in Phys.
Rev.
Structure and phase behavior of colloidal dumbbells with tunable attractive interactions
We investigate thermodynamic and structural properties of colloidal dumbbells
in the framework provided by the Reference Interaction Site Model (RISM) theory
of molecular fluids and Monte Carlo simulations. We consider two different
models: in the first one we set identical square-well attractions on the two
tangent spheres composing the molecule (SW-SW model); in the second scheme, one
of square-well interactions is switched off (HS-SW model). Appreciable
differences emerge between the physical properties of the two models.
Specifically, the behavior of SW-SW structure factors points
to the presence of a gas-liquid coexistence, as confirmed by subsequent fluid
phase equilibria calculations. Conversely, the HS-SW develops a low-
peak, signaling the presence of aggregates; such a process destabilizes the
gas-liquid phase separation, promoting at low temperatures the formation of a
cluster phase, whose structure depends on the system density. We further
investigate such differences by studying the phase behavior of a series of
intermediate models, obtained from the original SW-SW by progressively reducing
the depth of one square-well interaction. RISM structural predictions
positively reproduce the simulation data, including the rise of ) in
the SW-SW model and the low- peak in the HS-SW structure factor. As for the
phase behavior, RISM agrees with Monte Carlo simulations in predicting a
gas-liquid coexistence for the SW-SW model (though the critical parameters
appears overestimated by the theory) and its progressive disappearance moving
toward the HS-SW model.Comment: 12 pages, 13 figures, 1 table, 78 reference
Phase diagram and structural properties of a simple model for one-patch particles
We study the thermodynamic and structural properties of a simple, one-patch
fluid model using the reference hypernetted-chain (RHNC) integral equation and
specialized Monte Carlo simulations. In this model, the interacting particles
are hard spheres, each of which carries a single identical,
arbitrarily-oriented, attractive circular patch on its surface; two spheres
attract via a simple square-well potential only if the two patches on the
spheres face each other within a specific angular range dictated by the size of
the patch. For a ratio of attractive to repulsive surface of 0.8, we construct
the RHNC fluid-fluid separation curve and compare with that obtained by Gibbs
ensemble and grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations. We find that RHNC
provides a quick and highly reliable estimate for the position of the
fluid-fluid critical line. In addition, it gives a detailed (though
approximate) description of all structural properties and their dependence on
patch size.Comment: 27 pages, 10 figures, J. Chem. Phys. in pres
Thermal stability and long term hydrogen/deuterium release from soft to hard amorphous carbon layers analyzed using in-situ Raman spectroscopy. Comparison with Tore Supra deposits
The thermal stability of 200 nm thick plasma enhanced chemical vapor
deposited a-C:H and a-C:D layers ranging from soft to hard layers has been
studied and compared to that of deposits collected on the Tore Supra tokamak
plasma facing components by means of in-situ Raman spectroscopy. Linear ramp
heating and long term isotherms (from several minutes to 21 days) have been
performed and correlations between spectrometric parameters have been found.
The information obtained on the sp 2 clustering has been investigated by
comparing the G band shift and the 514 nm photon absorption evolution due to
the thermal treatment of the layer. The effects of isotopic substitution have
also been investigated.Comment: appears in Thin Solid Films, Elsevier, 201
A pseudo-spectral method for the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation
We discuss a numerical scheme to solve the continuum Kardar-Parisi-Zhang
equation in generic spatial dimensions. It is based on a momentum-space
discretization of the continuum equation and on a pseudo-spectral approximation
of the non-linear term. The method is tested in (1+1)- and (2+1)- dimensions,
where it is shown to reproduce the current most reliable estimates of the
critical exponents based on Restricted Solid-on-Solid simulations. In
particular it allows the computations of various correlation and structure
functions with high degree of numerical accuracy. Some deficiencies which are
common to all previously used finite-difference schemes are pointed out and the
usefulness of the present approach in this respect is discussed.Comment: 12 pages, 13 .eps figures, revetx4. A few equations have been
corrected. Erratum sent to Phys. Rev.
Self-assembly mechanism in colloids: perspectives from Statistical Physics
Motivated by recent experimental findings in chemical synthesis of colloidal
particles, we draw an analogy between self-assembly processes occurring in
biological systems (e.g. protein folding) and a new exciting possibility in the
field of material science. We consider a self-assembly process whose elementary
building blocks are decorated patchy colloids of various types, that
spontaneously drive the system toward a unique and predetermined targeted
macroscopic structure.
To this aim, we discuss a simple theoretical model -- the Kern-Frenkel model
-- describing a fluid of colloidal spherical particles with a pre-defined
number and distribution of solvophobic and solvophilic regions on their
surface. The solvophobic and solvophilic regions are described via a
short-range square-well and a hard-sphere potentials, respectively.
Integral equation and perturbation theories are presented to discuss
structural and thermodynamical properties, with particular emphasis on the
computation of the fluid-fluid (or gas-liquid) transition in the
temperature-density plane.
The model allows the description of both one and two attractive caps, as a
function of the fraction of covered attractive surface, thus interpolating
between a square-well and a hard-sphere fluid, upon changing the coverage.
By comparison with Monte Carlo simulations, we assess the pros and the cons
of both integral equation and perturbation theories in the present context of
patchy colloids, where the computational effort for numerical simulations is
rather demanding.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, Special issue for the SigmaPhi2011 conferenc
Microscopic formulation of the Zimm-Bragg model for the helix-coil transition
A microscopic spin model is proposed for the phenomenological Zimm-Bragg
model for the helix-coil transition in biopolymers. This model is shown to
provide the same thermophysical properties of the original Zimm-Bragg model and
it allows a very convenient framework to compute statistical quantities.
Physical origins of this spin model are made transparent by an exact mapping
into a one-dimensional Ising model with an external field. However, the
dependence on temperature of the reduced external field turns out to differ
from the standard one-dimensional Ising model and hence it gives rise to
different thermophysical properties, despite the exact mapping connecting them.
We discuss how this point has been frequently overlooked in the recent
literature.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figure
Macroinvertebrados acuáticos y su importancia como bioindicadores de calidad del agua en el río Alambi
El estudio de Macroinvertebrados acuáticos (MAIA) para determinar su relación frente a un tipo de contaminación rutinaria, se realizó en el recorrido del río Alambi, desde la cota de los 2610 hasta la cota de 1120 m.s.n.m., estableciendo como estaciones referenciales entre los sitios Antes vs Después, los centros poblados de Nono, Tandayapa, Nanegalito y Nanegal. Se determino la abundancia total de 6447 individuos ubicados dentro de 16 ordenes, 47 familias y 55 géneros (Apéndice 1). De los cuales 4726 pertenecen al grupo de los EPT indicadores de buena calidad, estableciendo un promedio total de 197, de los 213,5 registrados para los sitios Antes y 180,5 para los sitios Después. La valoración biológica global BMWP(A) fue de 110,38, siendo 116.20 para sitios Antes y 104,58 para sitios Después. El nivel de significancia entre estos dos índices fue de 0,76 catalogando al agua del río Alambi como de “BUENA” calidad biológica, resultados que fueron corroborados mediante los parámetros Físico-químicos del ICA los cuales igualmente determinaron una buena calidad del agua.Palabras clave.- Macroinvertebrados acuáticos, Bioindicadores, Biological Monitoring Working Party de Antioquia, Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera, Índice de calidad del Agua
Osmotic pressure induced coupling between cooperativity and stability of a helix-coil transition
Most helix-coil transition theories can be characterized by a set of three
parameters: energetic, describing the (free) energy cost of forming a helical
state in one repeating unit; entropic, accounting for the decrease of entropy
due to the helical state formation; and geometric, indicating how many
repeating units are affected by the formation of one helical state. Depending
on their effect on the helix-coil transition, solvents or co-solutes can be
classified with respect to their action on these parameters. Solvent
interactions that alter the entropic cost of helix formation by their osmotic
action can affect both the stability (transition temperature) and the
cooperativity (transition interval) of the helix-coil transition. A consistent
inclusion of osmotic pressure effects in a description of helix-coil transition
for poly(L-glutamic acid) in solution with polyethylene glycol can offer an
explanation of the experimentally observed linear dependence of transition
temperature on osmotic pressure as well as the concurrent changes in the
cooperativity of the transition.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. To be submitted to Phys.Rev.Let
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