Search results for "Statistical physics"
showing 10 items of 1402 documents
Detecting self-similarity in surface microstructures
2000
The relative configurational entropy per cell as a function of length scale is a sensitive detector of spatial self-similarity. For Sierpinski carpets the equally separated peaks of the above function appear at the length scales that depend on the kind of the carpet. These peaks point to the presence of self-similarity even for randomly perturbed initial fractal sets. This is also demonstrated for the model population of particles diffusing over the surface considered by Van Siclen, Phys. Rev. E 56 (1997) 5211. These results allow the subtle self-similarity traces to be explored.
Surface-directed spinodal decomposition: modelling and numerical simulations
1997
We critically review the modelling and simulations of surface-directed spinodal decomposition, namely, the dynamics of phase separation of a critical or near-critical binary mixture in the presence of a surface with a preferential attraction for one of the components of the mixture.
Numerical and theoretical considerations on the surface energy for pure solids under strain
2004
In this paper we developed a numerical analysis, by means of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, for the surface energy of solids when a stress is applied parallel to the surface. Our MD simulations for Al showed that under these conditions; compression or an alternation of compression and tension, with respect to the bulk, of some atomic layers below the surface is present. Moreover, we quantified the surface energy variations that led us to propose an empirical model.
Thermodynamics of Nanoparticles: Experimental Protocol Based on a Comprehensive Ginzburg-Landau Interpretation
2014
MATERIAUX+SMR:SDA; The effects of surface and interface on the thermodynamics of small particles require a deeper understanding. This step is crucial for the development of models that can be used for decision-making support to design nanomaterials with original properties. On the basis of experimental results for phase transitions in compressed ZnO nanoparticles, we show the limitations of classical thermodynamics approaches (Gibbs and Landau). We develop a new model based on the Ginzburg-Landau theory that requires the consideration of several terms, such as the interaction between nanoparticles, pressure gradients, defect density, and so on. This phenomenological approach sheds light on …
PHASE TRANSITIONS AT INTERFACES
1989
The interface between two phases may exhibit significant structural changes if one of them comes close to a phase transition in its bulk. Surface critical phenomena, critical adsorption, and wetting phenomena, like e.g. surface melting or surface induced disorder, can occur. The grazing incidence of X rays and neutrons is particularly well suited in order to obtain precise informations about these kind of critical phenomena which link the space dimensions two and three.
Reconstructing wells from high density regions extracted from super-resolution single particle trajectories
2019
AbstractLarge amount of super-resolution single particle trajectories has revealed that the cellular environment is enriched in heterogenous regions of high density, which remain unexplained. The biophysical properties of these regions are characterized by a drift and their extension (a basin of attraction) that can be estimated from an ensemble of trajectories. We develop here two statistical methods to recover the dynamics and local potential wells (field of force and boundary) using as a model a truncated Ornstein-Ulhenbeck process. The first method uses the empirical distribution of points, which differs inside and outside the potential well, while the second focuses on recovering the d…
Bridging scales with thermodynamics: from nano to macro
2014
We have recently developed a method to calculate thermodynamic properties of macroscopic systems by extrapolating properties of systems of molecular dimensions. Appropriate scaling laws for small systems were derived using the method for small systems thermodynamics of Hill, considering surface and nook energies in small systems of varying sizes. Given certain conditions, Hill's method provides the same systematic basis for small systems as conventional thermodynamics does for large systems. We show how the method can be used to compute thermodynamic data for the macroscopic limit from knowledge of fluctuations in the small system. The rapid and precise method offers an alternative to curre…
Kirkwood–Buff Integrals Using Molecular Simulation: Estimation of Surface Effects
2020
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Quantitative atomic force microscopy
2017
A variety of atomic force microscopy (AFM) modes is employed in the field of surface science. The most prominent AFM modes include the amplitude modulation (AM) and the frequency modulation (FM) mode. Over the years, different ways for analyzing data acquired with different AFM modes have been developed, where each analysis is usually based on mode-specific assumptions and approximations. Checking the validity of the seemingly different approximations employed in the various analysis methods can be a tedious task. Moreover, a straightforward comparison of data analyzed with different methods can, therefore, be challenging. Here, we combine the existing evaluation methods which have been sep…
Power laws and crossovers in off-critical surface-directed spinodal decomposition.
2000
We study the dynamics of phase separation in binary mixtures near a surface with a preferential attraction for one of the components of the mixture. We obtain detailed numerical results for a range of mixture compositions. In the case where the minority component is attracted to the surface, wetting layer growth is characterized by a crossover from a surface-potential-dependent growth law to a universal law. We formulate a simple phenomenological model to explain our numerical results.