Regensburg 2013 – scientific programme

Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help

CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik

CPP 40: Focus: Van der Waals at soft matter interfaces: structure and dynamics

CPP 40.2: Talk

Thursday, March 14, 2013, 10:00–10:15, H39

Enhanced surface tension of liquid–vapour interfaces at mesoscopic scales — •Felix Höfling and Siegfried Dietrich — Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Stuttgart, and Institute for Theoretical Physics IV, Universität Stuttgart, Germany

Due to the simultaneous presence of bulk-like and interfacial fluctuations the understanding of the structure of liquid–vapour interfaces poses a long-lasting and ongoing challenge for experiments, theory, and simulations. In this context, we have generated high-quality molecular dynamics data for a Lennard-Jones fluid mimicking long-ranged van der Waals attraction. Upon lowering the temperature from that of the critical point to that of the triple point, the wavenumber-dependent surface tension develops a maximum at non-zero wavenumber so that its functional form changes from concave to convex at mesoscopic length scales.