Effective-liquid approach to the generalized Onsager theories of the isotropic-nematic transition of hard convex-bodies

Recent attempts to generalize the classical Onsager theory of nematic ordering to finite-density systems of finite-length hard convex bodies are related and compared. It is pointed out that, although good results can be obtained in three-dimensions (3D), in two dimensions (2D) the underlying factori...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Cuesta, J. A., Fernández Tejero, Carlos, Xu, H., Baus, Marc
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:1991
País:España
Institución:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repositorio:Docta Complutense
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/58894
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/58894
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:536
Density-functional theory
Spherocylinders ellipsoids
Crystals
Systems
Spheres
Simulation
Fluid
Model
Termodinámica
2213 Termodinámica
Descripción
Sumario:Recent attempts to generalize the classical Onsager theory of nematic ordering to finite-density systems of finite-length hard convex bodies are related and compared. It is pointed out that, although good results can be obtained in three-dimensions (3D), in two dimensions (2D) the underlying factorization approximation of the radial and angular variables always implies a second-order isotropic-nematic transition instead of the crossover from a weakly first-order transition to a continuous (Kosterlitz-Thouless) transition as seen in the simulations. The quantitative agreement with the simulations is also much poorer in 2D than in 3D. On the contrary, for large spatial dimensions these theories become exact.