2007/01/31 by Randall D. Kamien, Andrea J. Liu · 5 citations
Engineering · Materials Science · Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Approx #Atomic packing factor #Combinatorics #Computer science #Conjecture #Divergence (linguistics) #Material Dynamics and Properties #Mathematics #Metastability #Phase Equilibria and Thermodynamics #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Statistical physics #Thermodynamics #Volume fraction #cond-mat.soft #cond-mat.stat-mech
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.99.155501
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 99 (2007) 155501 · 4 pages, 1 figure, formerly entitled "Universality of Random Close Packing?"
arxiv created 2007/08/27 · openalex publication_date 2007/10/09 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We link the thermodynamics of colloidal suspensions to the statistics of regular and random packings. Random close packing has defied a rigorous definition yet, in three dimensions, there is near universal agreement on the volume fraction at which it occurs. We conjecture that the common value of phircp approximately 0.64 arises from a divergence in the rate at which accessible states disappear. We relate this rate to the equation of state for a hard-sphere fluid on a metastable, noncrystalline branch.