Phase separation dynamics in a symmetric binary mixture of ultrasoft particles

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Biswas, Tanmay, Kahl, Gerhard, Shrivastav, Gaurav P.
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2024
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author Biswas, Tanmay
Kahl, Gerhard
Shrivastav, Gaurav P.
author_facet Biswas, Tanmay
Kahl, Gerhard
Shrivastav, Gaurav P.
contents Phase separation plays an role in determining the self-assembly of biological and soft-matter systems. In biological systems, liquid-liquid phase separation inside a cell leads to the formation of various macromolecular aggregates. The interaction among these aggregates is soft, i.e., these can significantly overlap at a small energy cost. From the computer simulation point of view, these complex macromolecular aggregates are generally modeled by the so-called soft particles. The effective interaction between two particles is defined via the generalized exponential potential (GEM-n) with n = 4. Here, using molecular dynamics simulations, we study the phase separation dynamics of a size-symmetric binary mixture of ultrasoft particles. We find that when the mixture is quenched to a lower temperature below the critical temperature, the two components spontaneously start to separate. Domains of the two components form, and the equal-time order parameter reveals that the domains grow in a power-law manner with exponent 1/3, which is consistent with the Lifshitz-Slyozov law for conserved systems. Further, the static structure factor shows a power-law decay with exponent 4 consistent with the Porod law.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2403_16663
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Phase separation dynamics in a symmetric binary mixture of ultrasoft particles
Biswas, Tanmay
Kahl, Gerhard
Shrivastav, Gaurav P.
Soft Condensed Matter
Statistical Mechanics
Phase separation plays an role in determining the self-assembly of biological and soft-matter systems. In biological systems, liquid-liquid phase separation inside a cell leads to the formation of various macromolecular aggregates. The interaction among these aggregates is soft, i.e., these can significantly overlap at a small energy cost. From the computer simulation point of view, these complex macromolecular aggregates are generally modeled by the so-called soft particles. The effective interaction between two particles is defined via the generalized exponential potential (GEM-n) with n = 4. Here, using molecular dynamics simulations, we study the phase separation dynamics of a size-symmetric binary mixture of ultrasoft particles. We find that when the mixture is quenched to a lower temperature below the critical temperature, the two components spontaneously start to separate. Domains of the two components form, and the equal-time order parameter reveals that the domains grow in a power-law manner with exponent 1/3, which is consistent with the Lifshitz-Slyozov law for conserved systems. Further, the static structure factor shows a power-law decay with exponent 4 consistent with the Porod law.
title Phase separation dynamics in a symmetric binary mixture of ultrasoft particles
topic Soft Condensed Matter
Statistical Mechanics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.16663