No Arabic abstract
The long-ranged nature of the Coulomb potential requires a proper accounting for the influence of even distant electrostatic boundaries in the determination of the solvation free energy of a charged solute. We introduce an exact rewriting of the free energy change upon charging a solute that explicitly isolates the contribution from these boundaries and quantifies the impact of the different boundaries on the free energy. We demonstrate the importance and advantages of appropriately referencing the electrostatic potential to that of the vacuum through the study of several simple model charge distributions, for which we can isolate an analytic contribution from the boundaries that can be readily evaluated in computer simulations of molecular systems. Finally, we highlight that the constant potential of the bulk dielectric phase - the Bethe potential - cannot contribute to the solvation thermodynamics of a single charged solute when the charge distributions of the solvent and solute do not overlap in relevant configurations. But when the charge distribution of a single solute can overlap with the intramolecular charge distribution of solvent molecules, as is the case in electron holography, for example, the Bethe potential is needed when comparing to experiment. Our work may also provide insight into the validity of extra thermodynamic assumptions traditionally made during the experimental determination of single ion solvation free energies.
We have used neutron scattering to investigate the influence of concentration on the conformation of a star polymer. By varying the contrast between the solvent and isotopically labeled stars, we obtain the distributions of polymer and solvent within a star polymer from analysis of scattering data. A correlation between the local desolvation and the inward folding of star branches is discovered. From the perspective of thermodynamics, we find an analogy between the mechanism of polymer localization driven by solvent depletion and that of the hydrophobic collapse of polymers in solutions.
The glass transition of mesoscopic charged particles in two-dimensional confinement is studied by mode-coupling theory. We consider two types of effective interactions between the particles, corresponding to two different models for the distribution of surrounding ions that are integrated out in coarse-grained descriptions. In the first model, a planar monolayer of charged particles is immersed in an unbounded isotropic bath of ions, giving rise to an isotropically screened Debye-Huckel- (Yukawa-) type effective interaction. The second, experimentally more relevant system is a monolayer of negatively charged particles that levitate atop a flat horizontal electrode, as frequently encountered in laboratory experiments with complex (dusty) plasmas. A steady plasma current towards the electrode gives rise to an anisotropic effective interaction potential between the particles, with an algebraically long-ranged in-plane decay. In a comprehensive parameter scan that covers the typical range of experimentally accessible plasma conditions, we calculate and compare the mode-coupling predictions for the glass transition in both kinds of systems.
We study some aspects of a Monte Carlo method invented by Maggs and Rossetto for simulating systems of charged particles. It has the feature that the discretized electric field is updated locally when charges move. Results of simulations of the two dimensional one-component plasma are presented. Highly accurate results can be obtained very efficiently using this lattice method over a large temperature range. The method differs from global methods in having additional degrees of freedom which leads to the question of how a faster method can result. We argue that efficient sampling depends on charge mobility and find that the mobility is close to maximum for a low rate of independent plaquette updates for intermediate temperatures. We present a simple model to account for this behavior. We also report on the role of uniform electric field sampling using this method.
Langevin equations for the self-thermophoretic dynamics of Janus motors partially coated with an absorbing layer that is heated by a radiation field are presented. The derivation of these equations is based on fluctuating hydrodynamics and radiative heat transfer theory involving stochastic equations for bulk phases and surface processes that are consistent with microscopic reversibility. Expressions for the self-thermophoretic force and torque for arbitrary slip boundary conditions are obtained. The overdamped Langevin equations for the colloid displacement and radiative heat transfer provide expressions for the self-thermophoretic velocity and its reciprocal contribution where an external force can influence the radiative heat transfer. A nonequilibrium fluctuation formula is also derived and shows how the probability density of the Janus particle displacement and radiation energy transfer during the time interval [0,t] are related to the mechanical and thermal affinities that characterize the nonequilibrium system state.
We investigate the Rubinstein-Duke model for polymer reptation by means of density-matrix renormalization group techniques both in absence and presence of a driving field. In the former case the renewal time tau and the diffusion coefficient D are calculated for chains up to N=150 reptons and their scaling behavior in N is analyzed. Both quantities scale as powers of N: $tau sim N^z$ and $D sim 1/N^x$ with the asymptotic exponents z=3 and x=2, in agreement with the reptation theory. For an intermediate range of lengths, however, the data are well-fitted by some effective exponents whose values are quite sensitive to the dynamics of the end reptons. We find 2.7 <z< 3.3 and 1.8 <x< 2.1 for the range of parameters considered and we suggest how to influence the end reptons dynamics in order to bring out such a behavior. At finite and not too small driving field, we observe the onset of the so-called band inversion phenomenon according to which long polymers migrate faster than shorter ones as opposed to the small field dynamics. For chains in the range of 20 reptons we present detailed shapes of the reptating chain as function of the driving field and the end repton dynamics.