What is the best simulation approach for measuring local density fluctuations near solvo/hydrophobes?

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Auteurs principaux: Wilding, Nigel B., Evans, Robert, Turci, Francesco
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2024
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author Wilding, Nigel B.
Evans, Robert
Turci, Francesco
author_facet Wilding, Nigel B.
Evans, Robert
Turci, Francesco
contents Measurements of local density fluctuations are crucial to characterizing the interfacial properties of equilibrium fluids. A specific case that has been well-explored involves the heightened compressibility of water near hydrophobic entities. Commonly, a spatial profile of local fluctuation strength is constructed from measurements of the mean and variance of solvent particle number fluctuations in a set of contiguous sub-volumes of the system adjacent to the solvo/hydrophobe. An alternative measure proposed by Evans and Stewart (J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 27, 194111 (2015)) defines a local compressibility profile in terms of the chemical potential derivative of the spatial number density profile. Using Grand Canonical Monte Carlo simulation, we compare and contrast the efficacy of these two approaches for a Lennard-Jones solvent at spherical and planar solvophobic interfaces, and SPC/E water at a hydrophobic spherical solute. Our principal findings are that: (i) the local compressibility profile $χ({\bf r})$ of Evans and Stewart is considerably more sensitive to variations in the strength of local density fluctuations than the spatial fluctuation profile $F({\bf r})$ and can resolve much more detailed structure; (ii) while the local compressibility profile is essentially independent of the choice of spatial discretization used to construct the profile, the spatial fluctuation profile exhibits strong systematic dependence on the size of the subvolumes on which the profile is defined. We clarify the origin and nature of this finite-size effect.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2402_05692
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle What is the best simulation approach for measuring local density fluctuations near solvo/hydrophobes?
Wilding, Nigel B.
Evans, Robert
Turci, Francesco
Soft Condensed Matter
Statistical Mechanics
Measurements of local density fluctuations are crucial to characterizing the interfacial properties of equilibrium fluids. A specific case that has been well-explored involves the heightened compressibility of water near hydrophobic entities. Commonly, a spatial profile of local fluctuation strength is constructed from measurements of the mean and variance of solvent particle number fluctuations in a set of contiguous sub-volumes of the system adjacent to the solvo/hydrophobe. An alternative measure proposed by Evans and Stewart (J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 27, 194111 (2015)) defines a local compressibility profile in terms of the chemical potential derivative of the spatial number density profile. Using Grand Canonical Monte Carlo simulation, we compare and contrast the efficacy of these two approaches for a Lennard-Jones solvent at spherical and planar solvophobic interfaces, and SPC/E water at a hydrophobic spherical solute. Our principal findings are that: (i) the local compressibility profile $χ({\bf r})$ of Evans and Stewart is considerably more sensitive to variations in the strength of local density fluctuations than the spatial fluctuation profile $F({\bf r})$ and can resolve much more detailed structure; (ii) while the local compressibility profile is essentially independent of the choice of spatial discretization used to construct the profile, the spatial fluctuation profile exhibits strong systematic dependence on the size of the subvolumes on which the profile is defined. We clarify the origin and nature of this finite-size effect.
title What is the best simulation approach for measuring local density fluctuations near solvo/hydrophobes?
topic Soft Condensed Matter
Statistical Mechanics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.05692