Structural properties of complex (dusty) plasma upon crystallization and melting

A change in the local order of a bounded complex (dusty) plasma in the process of its crystallization and melting has been examined by molecular dynamics simulations. The dynamics of microparticles is considered in the framework of a Langevin thermostat, the pair interaction between charged particles is described by a screened Coulomb potential (Yukawa potential) with the hard wall potential as a confinement. It has been shown that the beginning of the crystallization of such a system is accompanied by the formation of clusters with the hexagonal close packed (hcp) structure; a noticeable number of these clusters are then transformed to the face centered cubic (fcc) phase. A plasma crystal formed after crystallization consists of the metastable hcp phase, fcc clusters, and a small number of clusters with a body centered cubic (bcc) crystal lattice. Beginning with a certain threshold value of the thermostat temperature, the number of fcc/bcc clusters decreases sharply with increasing temperature, which is an important signature of the beginning of the melting of the plasma crystal.     

Effect of confinement on the crystallization of a dusty plasma in narrow channels

Three-dimensional quasi-equilibrium configurations of a complex (dusty) plasma in narrow channels are investigated using the molecular dynamics simulations for various confining potentials (confinements). The dynamics of the microparticles is described within the framework of a Langevin thermostat with allowance for the pair interaction between charged particles, which is described by a screened Coulomb potential (Yukawa potential). Two confinements—the parabolic potential and hard elastic wall—are considered. It is shown that the confinement strongly affects the crystallization and the local order of the microparticles in the system under consideration; in particular, the appearance of a new quasicrystalline phase induced by the hard wall confinement is revealed.     

The Thermodynamic Pressure of a Dilute Fermi Gas

We consider a gas of fermions with non-zero spin at temperature T and chemical potential μ. We show that if the range of the interparticle interaction is small compared to the mean particle distance, the thermodynamic pressure differs to leading order from the corresponding expression for non-interacting particles by a term proportional to the scattering length of the interparticle interaction. This is true for any repulsive interaction, including hard cores. The result is uniform in the temperature as long as T is of the same order as the Fermi temperature, or smaller.     

Cooperative rearrangement regions and dynamical heterogeneities in colloidal glasses with attractive versus repulsive interactions

Water-lutidine mixtures permit the interparticle potentials of colloidal particles suspended therein to be tuned, in situ, from repulsive to attractive. We employ these systems to directly elucidate the effects of interparticle potential on glass dynamics in experimental samples composed of the same particles at the same packing fractions. Cooperative rearrangement regions (CRRs) and heterogeneous dynamics are observed in both types of glasses. Compared to repulsive glasses, the attractive glass dynamics are found to be heterogeneous over a wider range of time and length scales, and its CRRs involve more particles. Additionally, the CRRs are observed to be stringlike structures in repulsive glasses and compact structures in attractive glasses. Thus, the experiments demonstrate explicitly that glassy dynamics can depend on the sign of the interparticle interaction.     

Hexagonal to square lattice conversion in bilayer systems

We report the results of extensive molecular dynamics simulations of the reconstructive hexagonal to square lattice conversion in bilayer colloid systems. Two types of interparticle potential were used to represent the colloid-colloid interactions in the suspension. One potential, due to Marcus and Rice, is designed to describe the interaction of sterically stabilized colloid particles. This potential has a term that represents the attraction between colloid particles when there is incipient overlap between the stabilizing brushes on their surfaces, a (soft repulsion) term that represents the entropy cost associated with interpenetration of the stabilizing brushes, and a term that represents core-core repulsion. The other potential we used is an almost hard core repulsion with continuous derivatives. Our results clearly show that the character of the reconstructive hexagonal to square lattice conversion in bilayer colloid systems is potential dependent. For a system with colloid-colloid interactions of the Marcus-Rice type, the packing of particles in the square array exhibits a large interlayer lattice spacing, with the particles located at the minima of the attractive well. In this case the hexagonal to square lattice transition is first order. For a system with hard core colloid-colloid interactions there are two degenerate stable intermediate phases, linear and zigzag rhombic, that are separated from the square lattice by strong first order transitions, and from the hexagonal lattice by either weak first or second order transitions.     

Chain structures and clusters of particles with the mixed dipole–quadrupole interaction in smectic freely suspended nanofilms

The formation of unusual chain structures and clusters of particles with the mixed dipole–quadrupole interaction has been found in smectic nanofilms. Unlike topological dipoles and quadrupoles, the interaction between which leads to the formation of structures with finite interparticle distances, the particles with the mixed interaction touch each other and form stable chains and two-dimensional clusters. The orientation of particles in chains is intermediate between dipole and quadrupole chains. The variation of the interparticle distance and orientation of chains is explained qualitatively on the basis of the calculation of the с-director (field lines) near particles and the mutual arrangement of particles providing the minimum distortion of field lines.     

Three unequal masses on a ring and soft triangular billiards

The dynamics of three soft interacting particles on a ring is shown to correspond to the motion of one particle inside a soft triangular billiard. The dynamics inside the soft billiard depends only on the masses ratio between particles and softness ratio of the particles interaction. The transition from soft to hard interactions can be appropriately explored using potentials for which the corresponding equations of motion are well defined in the hard wall limit. Numerical examples are shown for the soft Toda-like interaction and the error function.     

Pair correlations in magnetic nanodispersed fluids

The pair distribution function of a monodisperse magnetic fluid simulated by a liquid made of dipolar hard spheres with constant magnetic moments is calculated. The anisotropy of the pair distribution function and the related structure factor of scattering in a dc uniform magnetic field are studied. The calculation is performed by diagrammatic expansion in the volume concentration of particles and the interparticle magnetic-dipole interaction intensity using a thermodynamic perturbation theory. Limitation by three-particle diagrams makes it possible to apply the results obtained to magnetic fluids with a moderate concentration. Even for low-concentration and weakly nonideal magnetic fluids, the anisotropic interparticle magnetic-dipole correlations in a magnetic field lead to the repulsion of particles in the direction normal to the field and to the formation of particle dimers along the field.     

Colloidal aggregation in a nematic liquid crystal: topological arrest of particles by a single-stroke disclination line

We numerically study many-body interactions among colloidal particles suspended in a nematic liquid crystal, using a fluid particle dynamics method, which properly incorporates dynamical coupling among particles, nematic orientation, and flow field. Based on simulation results, we propose a new type of interparticle interaction in addition to well-known quadrupolar interaction for particles accompanying Saturn-ring defects. This interaction is mediated by the defect of the nematic phase: upon nematic ordering, a closed disclination loop binds more than two particles to form a sheetlike dynamically arrested structure. The interaction depends upon the topology of a disclination loop binding particles, which is determined by aggregation history.     

Influence of flow on the structure and dynamics of clusters in complex plasma systems

The influence of flow with different strengths, positions, and widths on the structure and dynamics of clusters is studied by two-dimensional (2D) Langevin molecular dynamics simulations. The particles are confined by a quadratic confining potential. The horizontal position of the system centre, average inter-particle distance, and coupling parameter are calculated to characterize the effect of changing the strength, position, and width of the flow on the cluster structure. The trajectories, the velocity autocorrelation function, and the mean square displacement are obtained to further uncover the dynamic properties of the 2D dusty plasma system.     

Analysis of phase transitions in two-dimensional Coulomb clusters by the dynamic entropy method

The dynamics of two-dimensional clusters consisting of 7 and 18 particles whose interaction is described by a screened Coulomb potential has been numerically simulated by the Langevin molecular dynamics method. With the use of the data obtained for the displacements and velocities of particles, the functions of the “mean first-passage time” dynamic entropy have been obtained for clusters having different kinetic temperatures close to the conditions of laboratory experiments with macroparticles in a gas-discharge plasma. Three phase states of the small systems under consideration—crystal, liquid, and transient—have been observed. A mechanism of phase transitions under consideration has been described. The method proposed to analyze the dynamics of systems can be used for extremely small structures.     

Non-equilibrium dynamics of two-dimensional infinite particle systems with a singular interaction

The infinite system of Newton's equations of motion is considered for two-dimensional classical particles interacting by conservative two-body forces of finite range. Existence and uniqueness of solutions is proved for initial configurations with a logarithmic order of energy fluctuation at infinity. The semigroup of motion is also constructed and its continuity properties are discussed. The repulsive nature of interparticle forces is essentially exploited; the main condition on the interaction potential is that it is either positive or has a singularity at zero interparticle distance, which is as strong as that of an inverse fourth power.     

Diffusion Monte Carlo analysis of the crossover from three to two dimensions for trapped Bose gases

We investigate the crossover from three to two dimensions for harmonically trapped hard-sphere Bose gases by varying the aspect ratio of the trapping potential. The diffusion Monte Carlo method is used to calculate both the ground-state energy and structural properties. The effect of trap anisotropy, interparticle interaction, and number of particles on the ground-state properties is discussed. Our results show that the minimum value of the aspect ratio at which the system reaches an asymptotic equilibrium distribution in the weakly confined direction decreases with increasing scattering length, while the minimum value of the aspect ratio at which the system enters the quasi-two-dimensional (2D) regime increases as both the scattering length and the number of particles increase. Additionally, the role played by particle correlations is proved to be more pronounced in the quasi-2D system than in the three-dimensional (3D) system by directly comparing the ground-state properties for the two cases.     

Monte Carlo simulation of a confined hard ellipse fluid

The structural and thermodynamic properties of a confined hard ellipse fluid are studied using Monte Carlo simulation. The angular, average number densities and order parameters of hard ellipses confined between hard parallel walls are obtained for various bulk densities, aspect ratios and wall separations. The results show that the effect of the existence of the wall on the molecular fluid structure, either on their directions or their locations, with respect to the bulk, especially close to the walls, is significant. For this system the pressure is also obtained and it is shown that the average density at the wall is proportional to the pressure, βP=〈ρ_w〉. Our simulation results show that the order parameters depend on the number of the particles in the box unless it exceeds thousand.     

The influence of surface forces on shear-induced tracer diffusion in mono and bidisperse suspensions

The shear-induced self-diffusivity of tracer particles of radius a _t = λa in a suspension of particles having a radius, a , is calculated by Stokesian dynamics for different values of the size ratio, λ , both in 2 and 3 dimensions in the binary-collision regime. The self-diffusion is found to decrease strongly when the size ratio becomes quite different from unity. On the other hand, for the same average distance of contact between two spheres, the presence of a soft force always increases greatly the diffusion compared to the effect of a hard shell which is used to model the roughness. This is particularly true for tracer particles smaller than the bath particles, where the shear-induced diffusion can be increased by many order of magnitudes in the presence of a soft force. For suspensions of monodisperse particles we show that, for low volume fraction, the diffusion coefficient is much smaller than the one predicted by the binary collision model, due to the existence of a layered structure. On the contrary at higher volume fraction, many-body collisions strongly enhance the diffusion and it appears that the value of the diffusion is quite sensitive to the presence of clusters of particles which are themselves determined by the range of interparticle forces.     

Anharmonic interactions of elastic and orientational waves in one-dimensional crystals

Planar oscillations of a chain of dumbbell-shaped particles possessing three degrees of freedom are studied. This system models the dynamics of quasi-one-dimensional crystals consisting of elongated anisotropic molecules. A system of nonlinear differential equations describing the anharmonic interaction of the elastic and orientational waves in the lattice, corresponding to different degrees of freedom of the particles, is constructed assuming a cubic interparticle interaction potential. It is shown that in the low-frequency approximation the system obtained is equivalent to the equations of the moment theory of elasticity, widely employed for describing nonlinear and dispersion properties of layered crystals and phase transformations in alloys. Some types of three-wave collinear interactions are investigated, suggesting the possibility of exciting orientational waves in organic crystals because of their nonlinear interaction with acoustic waves. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 39, 137–144 (January 1997)     

T2 relaxation induced by clusters of superparamagnetic nanoparticles: Monte Carlo simulations

Clustering strongly affects the transverse (T2) relaxation induced by superparamagnetic nanoparticles in magnetic resonance experiments. In this study, we used Monte Carlo simulations to investigate systematically the relationship between T2 values and the geometric parameters of nanoparticle clusters. We computed relaxation as a function of particle size, number of particles per cluster, interparticle distance, and cluster shape (compact vs. linear). We found that compact clusters induced relaxation equivalent to similarly sized single particles. For small particles, the shape and density of clusters had a significant effect on T2. In contrast, for larger particles, T2 relaxation was relatively independent of cluster geometry until interparticle distances within a cluster exceeded ten times the particle diameter. Results from our simulations suggest principles for the design of nanoparticle aggregation-based sensors for MRI.     

Physics of compaction of fine cohesive particles

Fluidized fractal clusters of fine particles display critical-like dynamics at the jamming transition, characterized by a power law relating consolidation stress with volume fraction increment [sigma--(c) proportional, variant(Deltaphi)(beta)]. At a critical stress clusters are disrupted and there is a crossover to a logarithmic law (Deltaphi = nu logsigma--(c)) resembling the phenomenology of soils. We measure lambda identical with- partial differentialDelta(1/phi)/ partial log(sigma--(c) proportional, variant Bo(0.2)(g), where Bo(g) is the ratio of interparticle attractive force (in the fluidlike regime) to particle weight. This law suggests that compaction is ruled by the internal packing structure of the jammed clusters at nearly zero consolidation.     

Solitary density waves in the strongly coupled one component Coulomb particle structures as experimental support of the general versatility of the caustic theory

In this paper we demonstrate that generation of the solitary density wave in the strongly coupled one component Coulomb system of particles confined in a long quadrupole electrodynamic Paul trap is possible, when the energy losses due to air viscosity can be compensated by the energy contribution of the altering electric fields of the trap. Results of this paper allow to identify observed solitary waves as the caustics (according to definition of the book “Catastrophe Theory” by V. I. Arnold) and can be considered as the new experimental support of the general versatility of the caustic theory in describing different physical phenomena not only in collisionless systems of particles but also when interparticle interaction and interaction with external fields in viscous media are strong.