1997/11/28 by Peter Sollich, Michael E. Cates, Michael E Cates · 8 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Phase Equilibria and Thermodynamics #Theoretical and Computational Physics #cond-mat.soft #cond-mat.stat-mech
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.80.1365
published as Physical Review Letters, 80(7):1365-1368, 1998 · 4 pages, REVTeX, uses multicol.sty and epsf.sty, 1 postscript figure included
arxiv created 1997/11/28 · openalex publication_date 1998/02/16 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
A ``polydisperse'' system has an infinite number of conserved densities. We give a rational procedure for projecting its infinite-dimensional free energy surface onto a subspace comprising a finite number of linear combinations of densities (``moments''), in which the phase behavior is then found as usual. If the excess free energy of the system depends only on the moments used, exact cloud, shadow, and spinodal curves result; two-phase and multiphase regions are approximate, but refinable indefinitely by adding extra moments. The approach is computationally robust and gives new geometrical insights into the thermodynamics of polydispersity.