Two and three-particles spatial correlation in weak coupling plasma and applications

In this work, we studied the pair and triplet correlation functions in plasma composed of particles interacting via the Debye screening potential in the conditions of weak coupling parameter (Γ ≤ 1). The pair correlation functions are analysed numerically and compared to the hypernetted chains data, to the Monte Carlo data and to the results of Abramo and Tosi ??The triplet correlation functions are also analysed numerically and compared to the Kirkwood superposition approximation. At the end of our work, we give some applications to static structure factor and the dielectric constant. The results are well satisfactory.     

Polarizability and Kerr constant of proteins by boundary element methods

A precise implementation of the boundary element method has been applied to the computation of the polarizability and the Kerr constant of eight soluble proteins. The method is demonstrated to be accurate and precise by comparison with analytical values for spheroids. Two different integral equations have been solved: (1) an exact equation with explicit dielectric constant dependence, and (2) an exact equation for a metallic body. The dielectric dependence for the metallic body case is built in with a generalization of the ellipsoid formula. Both methods agree quantitatively with each other for low relative dielectric constants. A full tensor expression for the Kerr constant yields perfect agreement with experiment for some proteins and badly under reports for the rest. The protein structure is obtained from a crystallographic database and is assumed rigid throughout the TEB measurement. Electrolyte effects are neglected. The Kerr constant is dominated by the protein dipole moment and is quite sensitive to the orientation of the dipole moment relative to the principal axes of the polarizability tensor. Several possible reasons for the large discrepancy between some computed and measured values are discussed.     

A mean field analysis of the static dielectric behavior of linear lower alcohols

The static dielectric responses of methanol, ethanol, and 1-propanol up to 1-hexanol are discussed in terms of a stiff-chain lattice model for the alcohol clusters. An analytical expression for the Kirkwood correlation factor gK is derived in terms of the canonical partition function associated to the configurational statistics of any of the dimers building up a chain. This allows for the estimate of the dipole moment mu0 of an alcohol molecule in the liquid phase from the temperature dependence of the dielectric constant. All alcohol species appear to be characterized by a dipole moment larger than in the vapor phase. The Kirkwood correlation factor is found to be an increasing function of the alkyl tail length.     

Dielectric relaxation study of formamide–propylene glycol using time domain reflectometry

Using picoseconds time domain reflectometry, dielectric relaxation studies have been carried out for formamide (FMD)–propylene glycol (PLG) mixtures over the frequency range from 10?MHz to 20?GHz at various temperatures. The dielectric parameters, i.e. static dielectric constant (ε ₀) and relaxation time (τ), have been obtained by Fourier transform and least squares fit methods. The excess dielectric properties and Kirkwood correlation factor of the mixtures have also been determined. The Kirkwood angular correlation factor is greater than one (g ^eff?>?1) in FMD-rich region and less than one (g ^eff?<?1) in PLG-rich region, which indicates that in the mixture the dipole pairs have been formed in such a way that their orientation is parallel in FMD-rich region and antiparallel in the PLG-rich region.     

Dipolar response of hydrated proteins

The paper presents an analytical theory and numerical simulations of the dipolar response of hydrated proteins in solution. We calculate the effective dielectric constant representing the average dipole moment induced at the protein by a uniform external field. The dielectric constant shows a remarkable variation among the proteins, changing from 0.5 for ubiquitin to 640 for cytochrome c. The former value implies a negative dipolar susceptibility, that is a dia-electric dipolar response and negative dielectrophoresis. It means that ubiquitin, carrying an average dipole of ?240 D, is expected to repel from the region of a stronger electric field. This outcome is the result of a negative cross-correlation between the protein and water dipoles, compensating for the positive variance of the intrinsic protein dipole in the overall dipolar susceptibility. In contrast to the neutral ubiquitin, charged proteins studied here show para-electric dipolar response and positive dielectrophoresis. The study suggests that the dipolar response of proteins in solution is strongly affected by the coupling of the protein surface charge to the hydration water. The protein-water dipolar cross-correlations are long-ranged, extending ~2 nm from the protein surface into the bulk. A similar correlation length of about 1 nm is seen for the electrostatic potential produced by the hydration water inside the protein. The analysis of numerical simulations suggests that the polarization of the protein-water interface is highly heterogeneous and does not follow the standard dielectric results for cavities carved in dielectrics. The polarization of the water shell gains in importance, relative to the intrinsic protein dipole, at high frequencies, above the protein Debye peak. The induced interfacial dipole can be either parallel or antiparallel to the protein dipole, depending on the distribution of the protein surface charge. As a result, the high-frequency absorption of the protein solution can be either higher or lower than the absorption of water. Both scenarios have been experimentally observed in the THz window of radiation.     

The Influence of Large Pendent Groups on Chain Anisotropy and Electrical Energy Loss of Polyimides at High Frequency through All-Atomic Molecular Simulation

Polyimide is a potential material for high-performance printed circuit boards because of its chemical stability and excellent thermal and mechanical properties. Flexible printed circuit boards must have a low static dielectric constant and dielectric loss to reduce signal loss in high-speed communication devices. Engineering the molecular structure of polyimides with large pendant groups is a strategy to reduce their dielectric constant. However, there is no systematic study on how the large pendant groups influence electrical energy loss. We integrated all-atomic molecular dynamics and semi-empirical quantum mechanical calculations to examine the influence of pendant groups on polymer chain anisotropy and electrical energy loss at high frequencies. We analyzed the radius of gyration, relative shape anisotropy, dipole moment, and degree of polarization of the selected polyimides (TPAHF, TmBPHF, TpBPHF, MPDA, TriPMPDA, m-PDA, and m-TFPDA). The simulation results show that anisotropy perpendicular to chain direction and local chain rigidity correlate to electrical energy loss rather than dipole moment magnitudes. Polyimides with anisotropic pendant groups and significant local chain rigidity reduce electrical energy loss. The degree of polarization correlated well with the dielectric loss with a moderate computational cost, and difficulties in directly calculating the dielectric loss were circumvented.     

On the computation and contribution of conductivity in molecular ionic liquids

In this study we present the results of the molecular dynamics simulation of the ionic liquids: 1-butyl-3-methyl-imidazolium tetrafluoroborate and trifluoromethylacetate as well as 1-ethyl-3-methyl-imidazolium dicyanamide. Ionic liquids are characterized by both a molecular dipole moment and a net charge. Thus, in contrast to a solution of simple ions in a (non-) polar solvent, rotational and translational effects influence the very same molecule. This study works out the theoretical framework necessary to compute the conductivity spectrum and its low frequency limit of ionic liquids. Merging these computed conductivity spectra with previous simulation results on the dielectric spectra of ionic liquids yields the spectrum of the generalized dielectric constant, which may be compared to experiments. This spectrum was calculated for the three ionic liquids over six orders of magnitude in frequency ranging from 10 MHz to 50 THz. The role of rotation and translation and their coupling term on the generalized dielectric constant is discussed in detail with a special emphasis on the zero-frequency limit. Thereby, the frequency dependence of the cross correlation between the collective rotational dipole moment and the current is discussed.     

The electric birefringence of polyelectrolytes: an electrokinetic approach

We discuss the Kerr constant of a polyelectrolyte solution in the dilute regime. We show that the birefringence induced in a suspension of nonspherical polyelectrolytes by an external electric field probes the electrokinetic properties of the suspension. This is because the Kerr constant is directly connected to the electric torque exerted on the particles, and therefore contains information on the induced dipole, similarly to the other electrokinetic techniques. The article is a guideline for the development of an electrokinetic theory of the electric birefringence of polyelectrolytes. We compare two different methods to derive the Kerr constant of the polyelectrolyte solution. The first method uses an expression for the electric torque which is obtained through electrostatics, and yields a Kerr constant which has the same frequency dependence as the anisotropy of the real part of the polarizability of the dressed particle (that is, of the particle plus surrounding ions). The second method assigns an effective value of the induced electric dipole per particle by using the theory of the dielectric enhancement, and gives a Kerr constant proportional to the anisotropy of the real part of the dielectric constant of the suspension. The two methods give a considerably different frequency dependence of the Kerr constant: we suggest that the expression obtained by the second method is more capable of correctly describing the main features of the experimental results obtained with polyelectrolytes having small shape anisotropy.     

The effect of the spatial nonlocality of the Kirkwood g-factor on the determination of the long wavelength dielectric functions in dipolar fluids

The Kirkwood g-factor that determines the long wavelength dielectric constant of a simple, isotropic, translationally invariant dipolar fluid is given by an integral of a dipole-dipole correlation function over a spherical region of a nonzero radius R(K) chosen such that any further increase in the radius leads to no change in the value of the integral, thereby defining a Kirkwood correlation length R(K). For radii less than the correlation length the integral defines a radius dependent (nonlocal) Kirkwood g-factor, implying a nonlocal dielectric function. The nonlocal nature of these quantities has important consequences for the determination of the long wavelength dielectric function from dipole fluctuations via the Kirkwood-Fro?hlich connection. The dipole-dipole correlation function (the volume dipole auto-correlation function) commonly used in this determination involves particles residing solely within a sphere of radius R, unlike the correct correlation function which involves either a single particle with those particles in a spherical volume of radius R(K) or those particles in a spherical volume of radius R with those residing within a spherical volume of radius R+R(K). A procedure is suggested for extracting the infinite system dipole-dipole correlation function from results of simulations performed on finite spherical samples. Using some results reported in the recent literature, relative to the accurate correlation function the commonly used correlation function ranges from 27% too small for a sphere having a radius comparable to the Kirkwood correlation length to 4% too small at a radius of seven times that correlation length. As a result, the apparent dielectric constants, as determined by the conventional procedure of using the fluctuations of the sum of dipoles in a finite fixed volume, are also too small. This suggests that a dielectric constant extracted from computer simulations using a total dipole-total dipole correlation function in a given volume with other geometries and/or boundary conditions will result in similar errors.     

Quasi‐classical fluctuation–dissipation description of dielectric loss in oxides with implications for quantum information processing

One of the most important problems in developing devices for quantum computation is the coupling and dissipation of states by thermal noise. We present a study of a two‐state electric dipole in a crystal coupling to noise from a reservoir. As a realization of such an energy‐dissipating dipole, we report and analyze dielectric loss measurements in single crystal and polycrystalline Al₂O₃ over the temperature range 70–300 K. We are able to model the dielectric loss in terms of a quasi‐classical model that uses the fluctuation–dissipation theorem. Two key parameters in this model are the crystal oscillator energy and reservoir–lattice coupling constant. In polycrystalline samples, it is assumed that the main effect of structural disorder is a modification of the spectrum of the thermal phonons, so that acoustical vibrations acquire some optical mode character. The temperature dependence of the linewidth of the high dielectric strength infrared (IR) mode at 438 cm^?1 and the quasi‐degenerate Raman mode of the k = 0 (418 cm^?1) transition are also investigated and are shown to be related simply to the dielectric loss. The model reproduces the unusual temperature dependence of the dielectric loss observed experimentally. The implications for the coupling of quantum mechanical objects to noise and quantum information processing are discussed. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2006     

The pressure dependence of the dielectric constant and density of acetonitrile at three temperatures

The static dielectric constant of liquid acetonitrile is reported at 10, 25, and 40°C and at pressures up to 3 kbar. Densities of pure acetonitrile were measured where needed in order to analyze the dielectric measurements using the Kirkwood-Fröhlich equation. The Kirkwood correlation factorg _K was found to be less than unity with a positive temperature but negative pressure coefficient, suggesting an increasing anticorrelation of dipoles with decreased temperature and increased pressure. Theg _K factors are analyzed by a dipole pair-bonding model as outlined by Dannhauser and Flueckinger in which the lowg _K values are attributed to the presence of dimers consisting of completely anticorrelated dipoles. The implication of this model on other measurements, especially MNR relaxation studies, is examined.     

Static Dielectric Constants and Kirkwood Correlation Factor of the Binary Mixtures of N-Methylformamide with Formamide,N,N-Dimethylformamide and N,N-Dimethylacetamide

Static dielectric constant values of the binary mixtures of N-methylformamide with formamide, N,N-dimethylformamide and N,N-dimethylacetamide have been measured in the whole composition range at 303 K. The Kirkwood correlation factor values of the amide–amide mixtures were determined from the measured values of the static dielectric constant and high-frequency limit dielectric constant. The evaluated values of the excess dielectric constant and deviation in the Kirkwood correlation factor infer that deviations of their mixture values occur from the mole-fraction mixture law. Results confirm that there are strong hydrogen-bond interactions between unlike molecules of amide–amide mixtures and that 1:1 complexes are formed.     

Effect of charge density fluctuations within a droplet on dielectric polarization of ionic microemulsions

A statistical model of the dielectric polarization of ionic water-in-oil microemulsions is proposed. The model makes it possible to describe the effect of temperature and dispersed phase content on the static dielectric permittivity behavior of the microemulsions at a region far below percolation. With the help of this model, the microemulsions formed with the surfactant, sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate (AOT), have been analyzed. The studied systems are considered to consist of nanometer-sized spherical non-interacting water droplets of equal size with negatively charged head groups , staying at the interface and positive counterions Na⁺, distributed in the electrical diffuse double layer of the droplet interior. It can be conjectured that two different mechanisms, that provide an increase of the static dielectric permittivity as a function of temperature, may take place. These may be attributed either to the aggregation of droplets or the temperature growth of polarizability of non-interacting and therefore non-aggregating droplets dispersed in oil. The results support the hypothesis that the experimental temperature behavior of dielectric polarization far below the percolation region is only due to the polarization of a single droplet and not to an aggregation. The droplet polarizability is proportional to the fluctuation mean-square dipole moment of a droplet. It is shown that this mean-square dipole moment and the corresponding value of the dielectric increment, depend upon the equilibrium distribution of counterions within a diffuse double layer. The density distribution of ions is determined by the degree of the dissociation of the ionic surfactant. The dissociation of the ionic surfactant in the system has been analyzed numerically. The relationship between the constant of dissociation and the experimental dielectric permittivity has been ascertained.     

Theory of the spontaneous polarization of the free surface of a dielectric

The electric surface modes at the free surface of a dielectric may induce, through a non-linear mechanism, a static polarization of this surface. An estimate of this effect shows that the corresponding difference of potential may be non-negligible with respect to the usual value arising in situations where orientation effects of permanent dipole moments are present.     

Dielectric Parameters and Hydrogen Bond Interaction Study of Binary Alcohol Mixtures

The formation of hydrogen bonds between different types of molecules in binary alcohol mixtures (methyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol, ethylene glycol, propylene glycol and glycerol) have been investigated (each system at 21 mixture concentrations) by an analysis of their dielectric parameters. The static dielectric constant ε _o, limiting high-frequency dielectric constant ε _∞, excess dielectric parameters ε _o^E and ε _∞^E, effective Kirkwood correlation factor g ^eff, and corrective Kirkwood correlation factor g _f of the binary alcohol mixtures were determined at 25 °C in order to explore hydrogen-bond interactions and the strength of molecular connectivities between unlike alcohol molecules and their dipole alignment. These results confirm that the different alcohol mixtures form hydrogen-bonded structures, which are strongly influenced by the numbers of hydroxyl groups and carbon atoms of the alcohol molecules and vary with the concentrations of the mixtures.     

Polarizabilities and dipole moments of benzaldehyde, benzoic acid and oxalic acid in polar and nonpolar solvents

The purpose of this report is to calculate the orientation polarizability of benzaldehyde, benzoic acid and oxalic acid in polar and nonpolar solvents. The calculations are based on the knowledge of permanent dipole moment of the solutions. Other important physical quantities such as refractive index, density, specific volume, dielectric constant, molar polarization and molar refractivity are also calculated. Dipole moments of the solutions are calculated by using measured dielectric constants of the solutions. The dielectric constant measurements were made at 100 kHz. Relationships between the polarizability and concentration, specific volume, dielectric constant and dipole moment of the solutions are suggested.     

Electric dipole moments in polar solvents. II. Tetraisoamylammonium nitrate ion pairs in chlorobenzene. Effect of mutual polarization of the ions

The dielectric constant and conductivity of dilute solutions of tetraisoamylammonium nitrate in chlorobenzene are measured between –34.6° and 99.0°C to give association constants for the formation of ion pairs (K _A) and triple ions, and electric dipole moments. The quantityK _A as a function of temperature is reproduced by the Denison-Ramsey-Fuoss treatment for unolarized ion pairs [Eq. (2)] with a distance of closest approach of 4.90 Å. The dielectric data are reproduced by Onsager's equation with an inherent (gas-phase) dipole moment of the ion pairs of 14.2±0.3 D. Other methods of calculation lead to consistent dipole moments, confirming that the mutual polarization of the ions is important. The energetics of ionic association is considered on the basis that the ion pair may be treated as a polarizable dipole in a spherical cavity.     

Semiclassical treatment of thermally activated electron transfer in the intermediate to strong electronic coupling regime under the fast dielectric relaxation

The generalized nonadiabatic transition-state theory (NA-TST) (Zhao, Y.; et al. J. Chem. Phys. 2004, 121, 8854) is used to study electron transfer with use of the Zhu-Nakamura (ZN) formulas of nonadiabatic transition in the case of fast dielectric relaxation. The rate constant is expressed as a product of the well-known Marcus formula and a coefficient which represents the correction due to the strong electronic coupling. In the case of general multidimensional systems, the Monte Carlo approach is utilized to evaluate the rate by taking into account the multidimensionality of the crossing seam surface. Numerical demonstration is made by using a model system of a collection of harmonic oscillators in the Marcus normal region. The results are naturally coincident with the perturbation theory in the weak electronic coupling limit; while in the intermediate to strong electronic coupling regime where the perturbation theory breaks down the present results are in good agreement with those from the quantum mechanical flux-flux correlation function within the model of effective one-dimensional mode.