The nonlocal model of short-range wetting

Abstract

Recently, a Nonlocal Model was proposed that seems to overcome difficulties of the fluctuation theory of 3D wetting. In this thesis we explore this model in detail, laying the foundations for its use. We show how the model can be derived from a microscopic Hamiltonian by a careful coarse graining procedure, based on a previous recipe proposed by Fisher and Jin. These authors obtained a model with a position dependent stiffness that has a dramatic effect on the wetting transition, driving the transition first-order. Our improved method does not have an explicit position dependent stiffness, rather the substrate-interface interaction is described by a binding potential functional with an elegant diagrammatic expansion. We then check the robustness of the structure of the Nonlocal Model using perturbation theory to study a more general microscopic Hamiltonian. The model is robust to such generalisations, whose only relevant effect is the change of the values of the coefficients of the Nonlocal Model. The same remarks are valid for the inclusion of a surface field. The generalised model still has the same structure, albeit with different coefficients. Another important extension is a longer-range substrate-fluid interaction. We generalise the model to be able to deal with these and also with a bulk field. The results for the particular case of an exponentially decaying substrate potential reveal interesting consequences for the transition, which can provide a direct test of the Nonlocal Model. We finalise with a chapter proving that the Nonlocal model obeys a sum-rule for complete wetting.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceFunda�¸c��ao para a Ci��encia e Tecnologia,GBUnited Kingdo