2,007 research outputs found
Non-Equilibrium Surface Tension of the Vapour-Liquid Interface of Active Lennard-Jones Particles
We study a three-dimensional system of self-propelled Brownian particles
interacting via the Lennard-Jones potential. Using Brownian Dynamics
simulations in an elongated simulation box, we investigate the steady states of
vapour-liquid phase coexistence of active Lennard-Jones particles with planar
interfaces. We measure the normal and tangential components of the pressure
tensor along the direction perpendicular to the interface and verify mechanical
equilibrium of the two coexisting phases. In addition, we determine the
non-equilibrium interfacial tension by integrating the difference of the normal
and tangential component of the pressure tensor, and show that the surface
tension as a function of strength of particle attractions is well-fitted by
simple power laws. Finally, we measure the interfacial stiffness using
capillary wave theory and the equipartition theorem, and find a simple linear
relation between surface tension and interfacial stiffness with a
proportionality constant characterized by an effective temperature.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures (Corrected typos and References
Solvent-free coarse-grained lipid model for large-scale simulations
A coarse-grained molecular model, which consists of a spherical particle and
an orientation vector, is proposed to simulate lipid membrane on a large length
scale. The solvent is implicitly represented by an effective attractive
interaction between particles. A bilayer structure is formed by
orientation-dependent (tilt and bending) potentials. In this model, the
membrane properties (bending rigidity, line tension of membrane edge, area
compression modulus, lateral diffusion coefficient, and flip-flop rate) can be
varied over broad ranges. The stability of the bilayer membrane is investigated
via droplet-vesicle transition. The rupture of the bilayer and worm-like
micelle formation can be induced by an increase in the spontaneous curvature of
the monolayer membrane.Comment: 13 pages, 19 figure
Viscous coalescence of droplets: a Lattice Boltzmann study
The coalescence of two resting liquid droplets in a saturated vapor phase is
investigated by Lattice Boltzmann simulations in two and three dimensions. We
find that, in the viscous regime, the bridge radius obeys a t^{1/2}-scaling law
in time with the characteristic time scale given by the viscous time. Our
results differ significantly from the predictions of existing analytical
theories of viscous coalescence as well as from experimental observations.
While the underlying reason for these deviations is presently unknown, a simple
scaling argument is given that describes our results well.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures; as published in Phys. Fluid
Interfacial tension of the isotropic--nematic interface in suspensions of soft spherocylinders
The isotropic to nematic transition in a system of soft spherocylinders is
studied by means of grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations. The probability
distribution of the particle density is used to determine the coexistence
density of the isotropic and the nematic phases. The distributions are also
used to compute the interfacial tension of the isotropic--nematic interface,
including an analysis of finite size effects. Our results confirm that the
Onsager limit is not recovered until for very large elongation, exceeding at
least L/D=40, with L the spherocylinder length and D the diameter. For smaller
elongation, we find that the interfacial tension increases with increasing L/D,
in agreement with theoretical predictions.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, and also 1 tabl
The Search for Signatures Of Transient Mass Loss in Active Stars
The habitability of an exoplanet depends on many factors. One such factor is
the impact of stellar eruptive events on nearby exoplanets. Currently this is
poorly constrained due to heavy reliance on solar scaling relationships and a
lack of experimental evidence. Potential impacts of Coronal Mass Ejections
(CMEs), which are a large eruption of magnetic field and plasma from a star,
are space weather and atmospheric stripping. A method for observing CMEs as
they travel though the stellar atmosphere is the type II radio burst, and the
new LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) provides a means for detection. We report on 15
hours of observation of YZ Canis Minoris (YZ CMi), a nearby M dwarf flare star,
taken in LOFAR's beam-formed observation mode for the purposes of measuring
transient frequency-dependent low frequency radio emission. The observations
utilized Low-Band Antenna (10-90 MHz) or High-Band Antenna (110-190 MHz) for
five three-hour observation periods. In this data set, there were no confirmed
type II events in this frequency range. We explore the range of parameter space
for type II bursts constrained by our observations Assuming the rate of shocks
is a lower limit to the rate at which CMEs occur, no detections in a total of
15 hours of observation places a limit of shocks/hr for YZ CMi due to the stochastic nature of the events and
limits of observational sensitivity. We propose a methodology to interpret
jointly observed flares and CMEs which will provide greater constraints to CMEs
and test the applicability of solar scaling relations
Capillary Waves in a Colloid-Polymer Interface
The structure and the statistical fluctuations of interfaces between
coexisting phases in the Asakura-Oosawa (AO) model for a colloid--polymer
mixture are analyzed by extensive Monte Carlo simulations. We make use of a
recently developed grand canonical cluster move with an additional constraint
stabilizing the existence of two interfaces in the (rectangular) box that is
simulated. Choosing very large systems, of size LxLxD with L=60 and D=120,
measured in units of the colloid radius, the spectrum of capillary wave-type
interfacial excitations is analyzed in detail. The local position of the
interface is defined in terms of a (local) Gibbs surface concept. For small
wavevectors capillary wave theory is verified quantitatively, while for larger
wavevectors pronounced deviations show up. For wavevectors that correspond to
the typical distance between colloids in the colloid-rich phase, the
interfacial fluctuations exhibit the same structure as observed in the bulk
structure factor. When one analyzes the data in terms of the concept of a
wavevector-dependent interfacial tension, a monotonous decrease of this
quantity with increasing wavevector is found. Limitations of our analysis are
critically discussed.Comment: 12 pages, 15 figure
Description of the fluctuating colloid-polymer interface
To describe the full spectrum of surface fluctuations of the interface
between phase-separated colloid-polymer mixtures from low scattering vector q
(classical capillary wave theory) to high q (bulk-like fluctuations), one must
take account of the interface's bending rigidity. We find that the bending
rigidity is negative and that on approach to the critical point it vanishes
proportionally to the interfacial tension. Both features are in agreement with
Monte Carlo simulations.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Let
Isotropic-nematic interfacial tension of hard and soft rods: application of advanced grand canonical biased sampling techniques
Coexistence between the isotropic and the nematic phase in suspensions of
rods is studied using grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations with a bias on
the nematic order parameter. The biasing scheme makes it possible to estimate
the interfacial tension gamma in systems of hard and soft rods. For hard rods
with L/D=15, we obtain gamma ~ 1.4 kB T/L^2, with L the rod length, D the rod
diameter, T the temperature, and kB the Boltzmann constant. This estimate is in
good agreement with theoretical predictions, and the order of magnitude is
consistent with experiments.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figure
Solid-Liquid Phase Diagrams for Binary Metallic Alloys: Adjustable Interatomic Potentials
We develop a new approach to determining LJ-EAM potentials for alloys and use
these to determine the solid-liquid phase diagrams for binary metallic alloys
using Kofke's Gibbs-Duhem integration technique combined with semigrand
canonical Monte Carlo simulations. We demonstrate that it is possible to
produce a wide-range of experimentally observed binary phase diagrams (with no
intermetallic phases) by reference to the atomic sizes and cohesive energies of
the two elemental materials. In some cases, it is useful to employ a single
adjustable parameter to adjust the phase diagram (we provided a good choice for
this free parameter). Next, we perform a systematic investigation of the effect
of relative atomic sizes and cohesive energies of the elements on the binary
phase diagrams. We then show that this approach leads to good agreement with
several experimental binary phase diagrams. The main benefit of this approach
is not the accurately reproduction of experimental phase diagrams, but rather
to provide a method by which material properties can be continuously changed in
simulations studies. This is one of the keys to the use of atomistic
simulations to understand mechanisms and properties in a manner not available
to experiment
Colloid-stabilized emulsions: behaviour as the interfacial tension is reduced
We present confocal microscopy studies of novel particle-stabilized
emulsions. The novelty arises because the immiscible fluids have an accessible
upper critical solution temperature. The emulsions have been created by
beginning with particles dispersed in the single-fluid phase. On cooling,
regions of the minority phase nucleate. While coarsening these nuclei become
coated with particles due to the associated reduction in interfacial energy.
The resulting emulsion is arrested, and the particle-coated interfaces have
intriguing properties. Having made use of the binary-fluid phase diagram to
create the emulsion we then make use of it to study the properties of the
interfaces. As the emulsion is re-heated toward the single-fluid phase the
interfacial tension falls and the volume of the dispersed phase drops.
Crumpling, fracture or coalescence can follow. The results show that the
elasticity of the interfaces has a controlling influence over the emulsion
behaviour.Comment: Submitted for the proceedings of the 6th Liquid Matter Conference,
held in Utrecht (NL) in July 200
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