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Phase diagram of Gaussian-core nematics

الرسم البياني للنيماتيك النووي الجوزي

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 Added by Franz Saija
 Publication date 2007
  fields Physics
and research's language is English




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We study a simple model of a nematic liquid crystal made of parallel ellipsoidal particles interacting via a repulsive Gaussian law. After identifying the relevant solid phases of the system through a careful zero-temperature scrutiny of as many as eleven candidate crystal structures, we determine the melting temperature for various pressure values, also with the help of exact free energy calculations. Among the prominent features of this model are pressure-driven reentrant melting and the stabilization of a columnar phase for intermediate temperatures.



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105 - S. Prestipino , F. Saija , 2005
We trace with unprecedented numerical accuracy the phase diagram of the Gaussian-core model, a classical system of point particles interacting via a Gaussian-shaped, purely repulsive potential. This model, which provides a reliable qualitative description of the thermal behavior of interpenetrable globular polymers, is known to exhibit a polymorphic FCC-BCC transition at low densities and reentrant melting at high densities. Extensive Monte Carlo simulations, carried out in conjunction with accurate calculations of the solid free energies, lead to a thermodynamic scenario that is partially modified with respect to previous knowledge. In particular, we find that: i) the fluid-BCC-FCC triple-point temperature is about one third of the maximum freezing temperature; ii) upon isothermal compression, the model exhibits a fluid-BCC-FCC-BCC-fluid sequence of phases in a narrow range of temperatures just above the triple point. We discuss these results in relation to the behavior of star-polymer solutions and of other softly repulsive systems.
253 - M. Watzlawek , C. N. Likos , 1999
The phase diagram of star polymer solutions in a good solvent is obtained over a wide range of densities and arm numbers by Monte Carlo simulations. The effective interaction between the stars is modeled by an ultrasoft pair potential which is logarithmic in the core-core distance. Among the stable phases are a fluid as well as body-centered cubic, face-centered cubic, body-centered orthogonal, and diamond crystals. In a limited range of arm numbers, reentrant melting and reentrant freezing transitions occur for increasing density.
We present a Monte Carlo simulation study of the phase behavior of two-dimensional classical particles repelling each other through an isotropic Gaussian potential. As in the analogous three-dimensional case, a reentrant-melting transition occurs upon compression for not too high temperatures, along with a spectrum of water-like anomalies in the fluid phase. However, in two dimensions melting is a continuous two-stage transition, with an intermediate hexatic phase which becomes increasingly more definite as pressure grows. All available evidence supports the Kosterlitz-Thouless-Halperin-Nelson-Young scenario for this melting transition. We expect that such a phenomenology can be checked in confined monolayers of charge-stabilized colloids with a softened core.
62 - S. Prestipino , F. Saija , 2005
We redraw, using state-of-the-art methods for free-energy calculations, the phase diagrams of two reference models for the liquid state: the Gaussian and inverse-power-law repulsive potentials. Notwithstanding the different behavior of the two potentials for vanishing interparticle distances, their thermodynamic properties are similar in a range of densities and temperatures, being ruled by the competition between the body-centered-cubic (BCC) and face-centered-cubic (FCC) crystalline structures and the fluid phase. We confirm the existence of a reentrant BCC phase in the phase diagram of the Gaussian-core model, just above the triple point. We also trace the BCC-FCC coexistence line of the inverse-power-law model as a function of the power exponent $n$ and relate the common features in the phase diagrams of such systems to the softness degree of the interaction.
Dilute solutions of strongly charged polymer electrolytes undergo, upon addition of multivaltent salt to the solutions, a phase transition from extended conformations to collapsed or bundled ones. Upon further addition of salt they experience a second transition, a redissolution back into extended conformations. This paper presents a theoretical study of the structure and properties of the phase diagram of these solutions. On the basis of simple phenomenological observations a schematic phase diagram is constructed that allows a simple and explicit determination of the direction of the tie lines within the coexistence region. The actual shape of the coexistence boundary is determined by means of a model mean free energy functional that explicitly includes the possibility of association of both counterions and coions to the electrolyte. It is found that it is possible to redissolve the electrolytes into conformations where the bare charge of the electrolyte is overcompensated by the counterions but, due to the associated coions, can have either sign of total effective charge. When coion association is possible, the redissolution approximately coincides with the reassociation of the coions and counterions in the bulk of the solution.
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