The influence of the Casimir effect on the binding potential for 3D wetting

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Squarcini, Alessio, Romero-Enrique, José M., Parry, Andrew O.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Squarcini, Alessio
Romero-Enrique, José M.
Parry, Andrew O.
author_facet Squarcini, Alessio
Romero-Enrique, José M.
Parry, Andrew O.
contents We provide comprehensive details of how a previously overlooked entropic, or low temperature Casimir contribution, $W_C$, to the total binding potential for 3D short-ranged wetting may be determined from a microscopic Landau-Ginzburg-Wilson Hamiltonian. The entropic contribution comes from the many microscopic configurations corresponding to a given interfacial one, which arise from bulk-like fluctuations about the mean-field (MF) constrained profile, and adds to the usual MF contribution $W_{MF}$. We determine the functional dependence of $W_C$ on the interface (and wall) shape using a boundary integral method which can be cast as a diagrammatic expansion with each diagram corresponding to successively higher-order exponentially decaying contributions. The decay of $W_C$ is qualitatively different for first-order and critical wetting with the change in form occurring at the MF tricritical point. Including the Casimir contribution to the binding potential preserves the global surface phase diagram but changes, radically, predictions for fluctuation effects at first-order and tricritical wetting, even when capillary-wave fluctuations are not considered.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_04418
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The influence of the Casimir effect on the binding potential for 3D wetting
Squarcini, Alessio
Romero-Enrique, José M.
Parry, Andrew O.
Statistical Mechanics
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Soft Condensed Matter
We provide comprehensive details of how a previously overlooked entropic, or low temperature Casimir contribution, $W_C$, to the total binding potential for 3D short-ranged wetting may be determined from a microscopic Landau-Ginzburg-Wilson Hamiltonian. The entropic contribution comes from the many microscopic configurations corresponding to a given interfacial one, which arise from bulk-like fluctuations about the mean-field (MF) constrained profile, and adds to the usual MF contribution $W_{MF}$. We determine the functional dependence of $W_C$ on the interface (and wall) shape using a boundary integral method which can be cast as a diagrammatic expansion with each diagram corresponding to successively higher-order exponentially decaying contributions. The decay of $W_C$ is qualitatively different for first-order and critical wetting with the change in form occurring at the MF tricritical point. Including the Casimir contribution to the binding potential preserves the global surface phase diagram but changes, radically, predictions for fluctuation effects at first-order and tricritical wetting, even when capillary-wave fluctuations are not considered.
title The influence of the Casimir effect on the binding potential for 3D wetting
topic Statistical Mechanics
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Soft Condensed Matter
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.04418