Regensburg 2013 – scientific programme

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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik

CPP 41: Colloids and Complex Liquids I

CPP 41.8: Invited Talk

Thursday, March 14, 2013, 12:00–12:30, H40

Orientational Order and Packings of Non-Spherical Particles — •Klaus Mecke, Rene Wittmann, Sebastian Kapfer, and Gerd Schröder-Turk — Institut für Theoretische Physik, FAU, 91058 Erlangen, Germany

Since the seminal work by Y. Rosenfeld in 1989 for fluids of hard spheres a density functional theory is much sought after, which can describe quantitatively hard colloidal particles with arbitrary shapes. A new functional, which is based on fundamental mixed measures known from translative integral geometry, captures nematic and smectic phases correctly and can be used to determine surface tensions and Frank elastic constants.

The bond-orientational order parameter introduced in 1983 by Steinhardt et al. became a standard tool for local structure characterization in colloidal systems, with applications on jamming, crystallization or cluster formation. Unortunately, the definition of the particle neighborhood significantly affects their interpretation for disordered systems. Mixed measures as well as the related Minkowski tensors can be used to remedy the deficiencies and to characterize local orientational order of non-spherical particles in fluid phases, liquid crystals and also in disordered packings.