15 research outputs found
How Multivalency controls Ionic Criticality
To understand how multivalency influences the reduced critical temperatures,
Tce (z), and densities, roce (z), of z : 1 ionic fluids, we study equisized
hard-sphere models with z = 1-3. Following Debye, Hueckel and Bjerrum,
association into ion clusters is treated with, also, ionic solvation and
excluded volume. In good accord with simulations but contradicting
integral-equation and field theories, Tce falls when z increases while roce
rises steeply: that 80-90% of the ions are bound in clusters near T_c serves to
explain these trends. For z \neq 1 interphase Galvani potentials arise and are
evaluated.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Aging and ultra-slow equilibration in concentrated colloidal hard spheres
We study the dynamic behaviour of concentrated colloidal hard spheres using
Time Resolved Correlation, a light scattering technique that can detect the
slow evolution of the dynamics in out-of-equilibrium systems. Surprisingly,
equilibrium is reached a very long time after sample initialization, the
non-stationary regime lasting up to three orders of magnitude more than the
relaxation time of the system. Before reaching equilibrium, the system displays
unusual aging behaviour. The intermediate scattering function decays faster
than exponentially and its relaxation time evolves non-monotonically with
sample age.Comment: Submitted to the proceedings of the 6th EPS Liquid Matter Conference,
Utrecht 2-6 July 200
Exact aymptotic expansions for the thermodynamics of hydrogen gas in the Saha regime
We consider the hydrogen quantum plasma in the Saha regime, where it almost
reduces to a partially ionized atomic gas. We briefly review the construction
of systematic expansions of thermodynamical functions beyond Saha theory, which
describes an ideal mixture of ionized protons, ionized electrons and hydrogen
atoms in their ground-state. Thanks to the existence of rigorous results, we
first identify the simultaneous low-temperature and low-density limit in which
Saha theory becomes asymptotically exact. Then, we argue that the screened
cluster representation is well suited for calculating corrections, since that
formalism accounts for all screening and recombination phenomena at work in a
more tractable way than other many-body methods. We sketch the corresponding
diagrammatical analysis, which leads to an exact asymptotic expansion for the
equation of state. That scaled low-temperature expansion improves the
analytical knowledge of the phase diagram. It also provides reliable numerical
values over a rather wide range of temperatures and densities, as confirmed by
comparisons to quantum Monte Carlo data.Comment: 10 page
Electrostatic potential of phase boundary in Coulomb systems
Any interface boundary in an equilibrium system of Coulomb particles is accompanied by the existence of a finite difference in the average electrostatic potential through this boundary. This interface potential drop is a thermodynamic quantity. It depends on temperature only and does not depend on surface properties. The zero-temperature limit of this drop (along coexistence curve) is an individual substance coefficient. The drop tends to zero at the critical point of the gas-liquid phase transition. A special critical exponent can be defined to describe this behavior. The value of the discussed potential drop is directly calculated by numerical simulation of phase transitions in Coulomb systems. Properties of the interface potential drop are discussed for several simplified Coulomb models (melting and evaporation in the One Component Plasma (OCP)). Some examples of phase transition in real situations are also discussed
Thermodynamic Model of Solid Non-Stoichiometric Uranium Dioxide
A thermodynamic description of the imperfect and nonstoichiometric
ionic solid is obtained accounting for short- and long-ranged
inter-ionic forces, as well as for formation of Frenkel defects. Both Coulomb
and short-range interactions between defects are encompassed in a highly
non-ideal ionic system where interactions of Frenkel defects are taken into
account explicitly as short-ranged interactions of quasi-dipoles.JRC.E.3-Materials researc
Thermodynamic Model of Solid Non-Stoichiometric Uranium Dioxide.
Abstract not availableJRC.E-Institute for Transuranium Elements (Karlsruhe
The Equation of State of UO2.
Abstract not availableJRC.E-Institute for Transuranium Elements (Karlsruhe