Dresden 2017 – scientific programme

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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 55: Posters - Soft Matter, Glasses

DY 55.7: Poster

Thursday, March 23, 2017, 17:00–19:30, P1A

A lattice system of hard rods in three dimensions — •Axel Gschwind, Martin Oettel, and Miriam Klopotek — Eberhard Karls Universität, Institut für Angewandte Physik, Tübingen

Hard rods in contiuum space with discrete orientations (Zwanzig model) make a useful model for the phase behavior of anisotropic particles, and it was already shown in [1] that these undergo a first-order nematic transition.

For hard rods on a lattice and with discrete orientations one would expect similar behavior. We have studied this system with Grand Canonical Monte Carlo simulations for aspect ratios between 5 and 25. A nematic-isotropic transition is visible starting from aspect ratio 6, but it is only very weakly first order for all aspect ratios investigated. This is in sharp contrast to results from density functional theory for the same system and also from the behavior of hard rods in the continuum.

[1] R. Zwanzig, First-Order Phase Transition in a Gas of Long Thin Rods, J. Chem. Phys., 39(7):1714 (1963).