Year: 2011
Type: article
Abstract: We study a system formed by soft colloidal spheres attracting each other via a square-well potential, using extensive Monte Carlo simulations of various nature. The softness is implemented through a reduction of the infinite part of the repulsive potential to a finite one. For sufficiently low values of the penetrability parameter we find the system to be Ruelle stable with square-well–like behavior. For high values of the penetrability the system is thermodynamically unstable and collapses into an isolated blob formed by a few clusters each containing many overlapping particles. For intermediate values of the penetrability the system has a rich phase diagram with a partial lack of thermodynamic consistency.
Source: Europhysics Letters (EPL)
Authors: R. Fantoni, A. Malijevský, A. Santos, A. Giacometti
Language: English
Subfield: Condensed Matter Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2005048324