Dynamics and stability of a linear cluster of spherical magnetic nanoparticles

Magnetic particles freely moving in a fluid may organize themselves into dense phases, bulk clusters, or linear chains. The dynamics of particles forming a chain is analyzed theoretically taking into account the magnetic dipole interaction as well as the Van der Waals molecular interaction. The vibrational spectrum has two branches (the magnetic branch associated with the rotation of the magnetic moment of a particle and the elastic branch associated with the displacement of particles). In the case of particles with constant mass density and magnetic moment, which is interesting for applications, these two modes are in fact independent; i.e., the effects of mode hybridization are weak. However, these effects can be manifested for hollow particles. From analysis of the vibrational spectrum, the criterion for the chain stability to a transition to a denser phase is established.