Existence of enantiomeric phase separation in a three-dimensional lattice gas model

A three-dimensional lattice gas model for enantiomeric phase separation is introduced. The enantiomeric molecules (d andl) are the two nonsuperimposable mirror images having the molecular structure C(AB)₂, where C is a tetrahedrally bonded carbon atom with one bond to each end of two AB groups. The lattice gas model consists of a body-centered cubic lattice, each site of which can be either vacant or occupied by a molecule oriented so that the A and B groups point toward neighboring lattice sites. Pairs of molecules interact with short-range, orientationally-dependent interactions. For a domain of interaction parameters, the Pirogov-Sinai extension of the Peierls argument is used to prove thatd-rich andl-rich phases exist in the model at sufficiently low temperature. For another domain of interaction parameters, at sufficiently high chemical potential there is an infinite number of ground states, each containing a racemic mixture ofd andl molecules.