No Arabic abstract
The pair-correlation functions for fluid ionic mixtures in arbitrary spatial dimensions are computed in hypernetted chain (HNC) approximation. In the primitive model, all ions are approximated as non-overlapping hyperspheres with Coulomb interactions. Our spectral HNC solver is based on a Fourier-Bessel transform introduced by Talman [J. Comput. Phys., 29, 35 (1978)], with logarithmically spaced computational grids. Numeric efficiency for arbitrary spatial dimensions is a commonly exploited virtue of this transform method. Here, we highlight another advantage of logarithmic grids, consisting in efficient sampling of pair-correlation functions for highly asymmetric ionic mixtures. For three-dimensional fluids, ion size- and charge-ratios larger than one thousand can be treated, corresponding to hitherto computationally not accessed micrometer-sized colloidal spheres in 1-1 electrolyte. Effective colloidal charge numbers are extracted from our primitive model results. For moderately large ion size- and charge-asymmetries, we present Molecular Dynamics simulation results that agree well with the approximate HNC pair correlations.
Inspired by recent experimental observations of anomalously large decay lengths in concentrated electrolytes, we revisit the Restricted Primitive Model (RPM) for an aqueous electrolyte. We investigate the asymptotic decay lengths of the one-body ionic density profiles for the RPM in contact with a planar electrode using classical Density Functional Theory (DFT), and compare these with the decay lengths of the corresponding two-body correlation functions in bulk systems, obtained in previous Integral Equation Theory (IET) studies. Extensive Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations are employed to complement the DFT and IET predictions. Our DFT calculations incorporate electrostatic interactions between the ions using three different (existing) approaches: one based on the simplest mean field treatment of Coulomb interactions (MFC), whilst the other two employ the Mean Spherical approximation (MSA). The MSAc invokes only the MSA bulk direct correlation function whereas the MSAu also incorporates the MSA bulk internal energy. Although MSAu yields profiles that agree best with MD simulations in the near field, in the far field we observe that the decay lengths are consistent between IET, MSAc, and MD simulations, whereas those from MFC and MSAu deviate significantly. Using DFT we calculated the solvation force, which relates directly to surface force experiments. We find that its decay length is neither qualitatively nor quantitatively close to the large decay lengths measured in experiments and conclude that the latter cannot be accounted for by the primitive model. The anomalously large decay lengths found in surface force measurements require an explanation that lies beyond primitive models.
The ion distribution of electrolytes near interfaces with dielectric contrast has important consequences for electrochemical processes and many other applications. To date, most studies of such systems have focused on geometrically simple interfaces, for which dielectric effects are analytically solvable or computationally tractable. However, all real surfaces display nontrivial structure at the nanoscale and have, in particular, nonuniform local curvature. Using a recently developed, highly efficient computational method, we investigate the effect of surface geometry on ion distribution and interface polarization. We consider an asymmetric 2:1 electrolyte bounded by a sinusoidally deformed solid surface. We demonstrate that even when the surface is neutral, the electrolyte acquires a nonuniform ion density profile near the surface. This profile is asymmetric and leads to an effective charging of the surface. We furthermore show that the induced charge is modulated by the local curvature. The effective charge is opposite in sign to the multivalent ions and is larger in concave regions of the surface.
The application of the Correlated basis function theory and of the Fermi hypernetted chain technique, to the description of the ground state of medium-heavy nuclei is reviewed. We discuss how the formalism, originally developed for symmetric nuclear matter, should be changed in order to describe finite nuclear systems, with different number of protons and neutrons. This approach allows us to describe doubly closed shell nuclei by using microscopic nucleon-nucleon interactions. We presents results of numerical calculations done with two-nucleon interactions of Argonne type,implemented with three-body forces of Urbana type. Our results regard ground-state energies, matter, charge and momentum distributions, natural orbits, occupation numbers, quasi-hole wave functions and spectroscopic factors of 12C, 16O, 40Ca, 48Ca and 208Pb nuclei.
We investigate numerically, by a hybrid lattice Boltzmann method, the morphology and the dynamics of an emulsion made of a polar active gel, contractile or extensile, and an isotropic passive fluid. We focus on the case of a highly off-symmetric ratio between the active and passive components. In absence of any activity we observe an hexatic-ordered droplets phase, with some defects in the layout. We study how the morphology of the system is affected by activity both in the contractile and extensile case. In the extensile case a small amount of activity favors the elimination of defects in the array of droplets, while at higher activities, first aster-like rotating droplets appear, and then a disordered pattern occurs. In the contractile case, at sufficiently high values of activity, elongated structures are formed. Energy and enstrophy behavior mark the transitions between the different regimes.
We introduce in this paper an exact solvable BCS-Hubbard model in arbitrary dimensions. The model describes a p-wave BCS superconductor with equal spin pairing moving on a bipartite (cubic, square etc.) lattice with on site Hubbard interaction $U$. We show that the model becomes exactly solvable for arbitrary $U$ when the BCS pairing amplitude $Delta$ equals the hopping amplitude $t$. The nature of the solution is described in detail in this paper. The construction of the exact solution is parallel to the exactly solvable Kitaev honeycomb model for $S=1/2$ quantum spins and can be viewed as a generalization of Kitaevs construction to $S=1/2$ interacting lattice fermions. The BCS-Hubbard model discussed in this paper is just an example of a large class of exactly solvable lattice fermion models that can be constructed similarly.