Quantifying the effects of neglecting many-body interactions in coarse-grained models of complex fluids

Autor: Ashton, Douglas J., Wilding, Nigel B.
Rok vydání: 2014
Předmět:
Zdroj: Phys. Rev. E 89, 031301 (2014)
Druh dokumentu: Working Paper
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.89.031301
Popis: We describe a general simulation scheme for assessing the thermodynamic consequences of neglecting many-body effects in coarse-grained models of complex fluids. The method exploits the fact that the asymptote of a simple-to-measure structural function provides direct estimates of virial coefficients. Comparing the virial coefficients of an atomistically detailed system with those of a coarse-grained version described by pair potentials, permits the role of many-body effects to be quantified. The approach is applied to two models: (i) a size-asymmetrical colloid-polymer mixture, and (ii) a solution of star polymers. In the latter case, coarse-graining to an effective fluid described by pair potentials is found to neglect important aspects of the true behaviour.
Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures
Databáze: arXiv