159 research outputs found
Determination of the Critical Exponents for the Isotropic-Nematic Phase Transition in a System of Long Rods on Two-dimensional Lattices: Universality of the Transition
Monte Carlo simulations and finite-size scaling analysis have been carried
out to study the critical behavior and universality for the isotropic-nematic
phase transition in a system of long straight rigid rods of length
(-mers) on two-dimensional lattices. The nematic phase, characterized by a
big domain of parallel -mers, is separated from the isotropic state by a
continuous transition occurring at a finite density. The determination of the
critical exponents, along with the behavior of Binder cumulants, indicate that
the transition belongs to the 2D Ising universality class for square lattices
and the three-state Potts universality class for triangular lattices.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, uses epl2.cls, to appear in Europhysics Letter
Dimensional crossover of the fundamental-measure functional for parallel hard cubes
We present a regularization of the recently proposed fundamental-measure
functional for a mixture of parallel hard cubes. The regularized functional is
shown to have right dimensional crossovers to any smaller dimension, thus
allowing to use it to study highly inhomogeneous phases (such as the solid
phase). Furthermore, it is shown how the functional of the slightly more
general model of parallel hard parallelepipeds can be obtained using the
zero-dimensional functional as a generating functional. The multicomponent
version of the latter system is also given, and it is suggested how to
reformulate it as a restricted-orientation model for liquid crystals. Finally,
the method is further extended to build a functional for a mixture of parallel
hard cylinders.Comment: 4 pages, no figures, uses revtex style files and multicol.sty, for a
PostScript version see http://dulcinea.uc3m.es/users/cuesta/cross.p
Kinetic pathways of the Nematic-Isotropic phase transition as studied by confocal microscopy on rod-like viruses
We investigate the kinetics of phase separation for a mixture of rodlike
viruses (fd) and polymer (dextran), which effectively constitutes a system of
attractive rods. This dispersion is quenched from a flow-induced fully nematic
state into the region where the nematic and the isotropic phase coexist. We
show experimental evidence that the kinetic pathway depends on the overall
concentration. When the quench is made at high concentrations, the system is
meta-stable and we observe typical nucleation-and-growth. For quenches at low
concentration the system is unstable and the system undergoes a spinodal
decomposition. At intermediate concentrations we see the transition between
both demixing processes, where we locate the spinodal point.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, accepted in J. Phys.: Condens. Matter as
symposium paper for the 6th Liquid Matter Conference in Utrech
A continuous isotropic-nematic liquid crystalline transition of F-actin solutions
The phase transition from the isotropic (I) to nematic (N) liquid crystalline
suspension of F-actin of average length m or above was studied by local
measurements of optical birefringence and protein concentration. Both
parameters were detected to be continuous in the transition region, suggesting
that the I-N transition is higher than 1st order. This finding is consistent
with a recent theory by Lammert, Rokhsar & Toner (PRL, 1993, 70:1650),
predicting that the I-N transition may become continuous due to suppression of
disclinations. Indeed, few line defects occur in the aligned phase of F-actin.
Individual filaments in solutions of a few mg/ml F-actin undergo fast
translational diffusion along the filament axis, whereas both lateral and
rotational diffusions are suppressed.Comment: 4 pages with 4 figures. Submitted to Physical Review Letter
Modeling oscillatory Microtubule--Polymerization
Polymerization of microtubules is ubiquitous in biological cells and under
certain conditions it becomes oscillatory in time. Here simple reaction models
are analyzed that capture such oscillations as well as the length distribution
of microtubules. We assume reaction conditions that are stationary over many
oscillation periods, and it is a Hopf bifurcation that leads to a persistent
oscillatory microtubule polymerization in these models. Analytical expressions
are derived for the threshold of the bifurcation and the oscillation frequency
in terms of reaction rates as well as typical trends of their parameter
dependence are presented. Both, a catastrophe rate that depends on the density
of {\it guanosine triphosphate} (GTP) liganded tubulin dimers and a delay
reaction, such as the depolymerization of shrinking microtubules or the decay
of oligomers, support oscillations. For a tubulin dimer concentration below the
threshold oscillatory microtubule polymerization occurs transiently on the
route to a stationary state, as shown by numerical solutions of the model
equations. Close to threshold a so--called amplitude equation is derived and it
is shown that the bifurcation to microtubule oscillations is supercritical.Comment: 21 pages and 12 figure
Isotropic-nematic phase transition in suspensions of filamentous virus and the neutral polymer Dextran
We present an experimental study of the isotropic-nematic phase transition in
an aqueous mixture of charged semi-flexible rods (fd virus) and neutral polymer
(Dextran). A complete phase diagram is measured as a function of ionic strength
and polymer molecular weight. At high ionic strength we find that adding
polymer widens the isotropic-nematic coexistence region with polymers
preferentially partitioning into the isotropic phase, while at low ionic
strength the added polymer has no effect on the phase transition. The nematic
order parameter is determined from birefringence measurements and is found to
be independent of polymer concentration (or equivalently the strength of
attraction). The experimental results are compared with the existing
theoretical predictions for the isotropic-nematic transition in rods with
attractive interactions.Comment: 8 Figures. To be published in Phys. Rev. E. For more information see
http://www.elsie.brandeis.ed
Isotropic-nematic phase equilibria in the Onsager theory of hard rods with length polydispersity
We analyse the effect of a continuous spread of particle lengths on the phase
behavior of rodlike particles, using the Onsager theory of hard rods. Our aim
is to establish whether ``unusual'' effects such as isotropic-nematic-nematic
(I-N-N) phase separation can occur even for length distributions with a single
peak. We focus on the onset of I-N coexistence. For a log-normal distribution
we find that a finite upper cutoff on rod lengths is required to make this
problem well-posed. The cloud curve, which tracks the density at the onset of
I-N coexistence as a function of the width of the length distribution, exhibits
a kink; this demonstrates that the phase diagram must contain a three-phase
I-N-N region.
Theoretical analysis shows that in the limit of large cutoff the cloud point
density actually converges to zero, so that phase separation results at any
nonzero density; this conclusion applies to all length distributions with
fatter-than-exponentail tails. Finally we consider the case of a Schulz
distribution, with its exponential tail. Surprisingly, even here the long rods
(and hence the cutoff) can dominate the phase behaviour, and a kink in the
cloud curve and I-N-N coexistence again result. Theory establishes that there
is a nonzero threshold for the width of the length distribution above which
these long rod effects occur, and shows that the cloud and shadow curves
approach nonzero limits for large cutoff, both in good agreement with the
numerical results.Comment: 20 pages, 13 figure
Asexuality: Classification and characterization
This is a post-print version of the article. The official published version can be obtaineed at the link below.The term “asexual” has been defined in many different ways and asexuality has received very little research attention. In a small qualitative study (N = 4), individuals who self-identified as asexual were interviewed to help formulate hypotheses for a larger study. The second larger study was an online survey drawn from a convenience sample designed to better characterize asexuality and to test predictors of asexual identity. A convenience sample of 1,146 individuals (N = 41 self-identified asexual) completed online questionnaires assessing sexual history, sexual inhibition and excitation, sexual desire, and an open-response questionnaire concerning asexual identity. Asexuals reported significantly less desire for sex with a partner, lower sexual arousability, and lower sexual excitation but did not differ consistently from non-asexuals in their sexual inhibition scores or their desire to masturbate. Content analyses supported the idea that low sexual desire is the primary feature predicting asexual identity
Predicting phase equilibria in polydisperse systems
Many materials containing colloids or polymers are polydisperse: They
comprise particles with properties (such as particle diameter, charge, or
polymer chain length) that depend continuously on one or several parameters.
This review focusses on the theoretical prediction of phase equilibria in
polydisperse systems; the presence of an effectively infinite number of
distinguishable particle species makes this a highly nontrivial task. I first
describe qualitatively some of the novel features of polydisperse phase
behaviour, and outline a theoretical framework within which they can be
explored. Current techniques for predicting polydisperse phase equilibria are
then reviewed. I also discuss applications to some simple model systems
including homopolymers and random copolymers, spherical colloids and
colloid-polymer mixtures, and liquid crystals formed from rod- and plate-like
colloidal particles; the results surveyed give an idea of the rich
phenomenology of polydisperse phase behaviour. Extensions to the study of
polydispersity effects on interfacial behaviour and phase separation kinetics
are outlined briefly.Comment: 48 pages, invited topical review for Journal of Physics: Condensed
Matter; uses Institute of Physics style file iopart.cls (included
Topological Defects in Nematic Droplets of Hard Spherocylinders
Using computer simulations we investigate the microscopic structure of the
singular director field within a nematic droplet. As a theoretical model for
nematic liquid crystals we take hard spherocylinders. To induce an overall
topological charge, the particles are either confined to a two-dimensional
circular cavity with homeotropic boundary or to the surface of a
three-dimensional sphere. Both systems exhibit half-integer topological point
defects. The isotropic defect core has a radius of the order of one particle
length and is surrounded by free-standing density oscillations. The effective
interaction between two defects is investigated. All results should be
experimentally observable in thin sheets of colloidal liquid crystals.Comment: 13 pages, 16 figures, Phys. Rev.
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