Search results for " tension"
showing 10 items of 270 documents
Determination of the origin and magnitude of logarithmic finite-size effects on interfacial tension: Role of interfacial fluctuations and domain brea…
2014
The ensemble-switch method for computing wall excess free energies of condensed matter is extended to estimate the interface free energies between coexisting phases very accurately. By this method, system geometries with linear dimensions $L$ parallel and $L_z$ perpendicular to the interface with various boundary conditions in the canonical or grandcanonical ensemble can be studied. Using two- and three-dimensional Ising models, the nature of the occurring logarithmic finite size corrections is studied. It is found crucial to include interfacial fluctuations due to "domain breathing".
Magnetic micro-droplet in rotating field: numerical simulation and comparison with experiment
2017
Magnetic droplets obtained by induced phase separation in a magnetic colloid show a large variety of shapes when exposed to an external field. However, the description of shapes is often limited. Here we formulate an algorithm based on three dimensional boundary-integral equations for strongly magnetic droplets in a high-frequency rotating magnetic field, allowing us to find their figures of equilibrium in three dimensions. The algorithm is justified by a series of comparisons with known analytical results. We compare the calculated equilibrium shapes with experimental observations and find a good agreement. The main features of these observations are the oblate-prolate transition, the flat…
Overview: Understanding nucleation phenomena from simulations of lattice gas models
2016
Monte Carlo simulations of homogeneous and heterogeneous nucleation in Ising/lattice gas models are reviewed with an emphasis on the general insight gained on the mechanisms by which metastable states decay. Attention is paid to the proper distinction of particles that belong to a cluster (droplet), that may trigger a nucleation event, from particles in its environment, a problem crucial near the critical point. Well below the critical point, the lattice structure causes an anisotropy of the interface tension, and hence nonspherical droplet shapes result, making the treatment nontrivial even within the conventional classical theory of homogeneous nucleation. For temperatures below the rough…
Surface tension and interfacial fluctuations in d-dimensional Ising model
2005
The surface tension of rough interfaces between coexisting phases in 2D and 3D Ising models are discussed in view of the known results and some original calculations presented in this paper. The results are summarised in a formula, which allows to interpolate the corrections to finite-size scaling between two and three dimensions. The physical meaning of an analytic continuation to noninteger values of the spatial dimensionality d is discussed. Lattices and interfaces with properly defined fractal dimensions should fulfil certain requirements to possibly have properties of an analytic continuation from d-dimensional hypercubes. Here 2 appears as the marginal value of d below which the (d-1)…
Logarithmic finite-size effects on interfacial free energies: Phenomenological theory and Monte Carlo studies
2014
The computation of interfacial free energies between coexisting phases (e.g.~saturated vapor and liquid) by computer simulation methods is still a challenging problem due to the difficulty of an atomistic identification of an interface, and due to interfacial fluctuations on all length scales. The approach to estimate the interfacial tension from the free energy excess of a system with interfaces relative to corresponding single-phase systems does not suffer from the first problem but still suffers from the latter. Considering $d$-dimensional systems with interfacial area $L^{d-1}$ and linear dimension $L_z$ in the direction perpendicular to the interface, it is argued that the interfacial …
Crystallization of hard spheres revisited. I. Extracting kinetics and free energy landscape from forward flux sampling
2018
We investigate the kinetics and the free energy landscape of the crystallization of hard spheres from a supersaturated metastable liquid though direct simulations and forward flux sampling. In this first paper, we describe and test two different ways to reconstruct the free energy barriers from the sampled steady state probability distribution of cluster sizes without sampling the equilibrium distribution. The first method is based on mean first passage times, and the second method is based on splitting probabilities. We verify both methods for a single particle moving in a double-well potential. For the nucleation of hard spheres, these methods allow us to probe a wide range of supersatura…
A study of capillarity phenomena by using a computer-based simulation approach
2021
Liquid properties are relevant for the understanding of fundamental and applied sciences. Among these properties, those that can be traced back and explained through the surface tension are particularly interesting to study and reconstruct in educational terms. Traditional educational treatment of surface tension is often obscure or too complex, sometimes superficial or completely neglected. The aim of the research here described is to discuss in detail a mesoscopic model of liquids and show quantitative results obtained by a computer simulation approach. Looking at the educational aspect, the main advantage of this approach is that it allows the student/teacher to control the simulation pa…
Stochastic thermodynamics for active matter
2016
The theoretical understanding of active matter, which is driven out of equilibrium by directed motion, is still fragmental and model oriented. Stochastic thermodynamics, on the other hand, is a comprehensive theoretical framework for driven systems that allows to define fluctuating work and heat. We apply these definitions to active matter, assuming that dissipation can be modelled by effective non-conservative forces. We show that, through the work, conjugate extensive and intensive observables can be defined even in non-equilibrium steady states lacking a free energy. As an illustration, we derive the expressions for the pressure and interfacial tension of active Brownian particles. The l…
The galaxy power spectrum take on spatial curvature and cosmic concordance
2020
The concordance of the $\Lambda$CDM cosmological model in light of current observations has been the subject of an intense debate in recent months. The 2018 Planck Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) temperature anisotropy power spectrum measurements appear at face value to favour a spatially closed Universe with curvature parameter $\Omega_K<0$. This preference disappears if Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) measurements are combined with Planck data to break the geometrical degeneracy, although the reliability of this combination has been questioned due to the strong tension present between the two datasets when assuming a curved Universe. Here, we approach this issue from yet another point…
Amphiphilic derivatives of a polyaspartamide: their aggregation and solubilization ability.Tensiometric and spectrophotometric studies
2006
The self-aggregation and solubilization capability of a series of amphiphilic copolymers obtained by derivatisation of polymeric chain of α,β-poly(N-2-hydroxyethyl)-dl-aspartamide (PHEA) with polyethylene glycols (PEG, being different molecular weight 2000 or 5000 Da, PEG2000 and PEG5000, respectively) and/or hexadecylamine alkyl chain (C16), namely PHEA–PEG2000, PHEA–PEG5000, PHEA–C16, PHEA–PEG2000–C16 and PHEA–PEG5000–C16, have been evidenced by performing systematic tensiometric and spectrophotometric studies. All measurements have been performed at 25.0 °C over a wide copolymer concentration range. The tensiometric results have shown that, for all copolymers studied, the surface tension…