Hard disks confined within a narrow channel

Fuente: arXiv
Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Brader, J. M., Di Bernardo, E., Tschopp, S. M.
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2026
Materias:
Acceso en línea:
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
_version_ 1866918379404656640
author Brader, J. M.
Di Bernardo, E.
Tschopp, S. M.
author_facet Brader, J. M.
Di Bernardo, E.
Tschopp, S. M.
contents We employ inhomogeneous integral equation theory to investigate the equilibrium properties of hard disks confined to a channel of width $L$ by hard parallel walls. If the channel width is narrowed below two disk diameters, then the system enters a quasi one-dimensional regime for which the particles cannot move past each other. In the limit when $L$ is equal to one particle diameter the system reduces to the one-dimensional bulk along the center of the channel. We study first the dimensional crossover properties of the inhomogeneous Percus-Yevick (PY) integral equation as $L$ is reduced and then investigate the behaviour of a quasi one-dimensional system as the packing of the particles is increased for a fixed value of $L$. We find that the inhomogeneous PY equation is highly accurate for situations of quasi one-dimensional confinement and that it predicts the onset of a structural transition to a zigzag state at higher packing. The excellent performance of this integral equation method and the ease with which it handles confinement-induced dimensional crossover is a consequence of the improved resolution which comes from treating explicitly the inhomogeneous two-body correlation functions.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_16642
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Hard disks confined within a narrow channel
Brader, J. M.
Di Bernardo, E.
Tschopp, S. M.
Soft Condensed Matter
Statistical Mechanics
We employ inhomogeneous integral equation theory to investigate the equilibrium properties of hard disks confined to a channel of width $L$ by hard parallel walls. If the channel width is narrowed below two disk diameters, then the system enters a quasi one-dimensional regime for which the particles cannot move past each other. In the limit when $L$ is equal to one particle diameter the system reduces to the one-dimensional bulk along the center of the channel. We study first the dimensional crossover properties of the inhomogeneous Percus-Yevick (PY) integral equation as $L$ is reduced and then investigate the behaviour of a quasi one-dimensional system as the packing of the particles is increased for a fixed value of $L$. We find that the inhomogeneous PY equation is highly accurate for situations of quasi one-dimensional confinement and that it predicts the onset of a structural transition to a zigzag state at higher packing. The excellent performance of this integral equation method and the ease with which it handles confinement-induced dimensional crossover is a consequence of the improved resolution which comes from treating explicitly the inhomogeneous two-body correlation functions.
title Hard disks confined within a narrow channel
topic Soft Condensed Matter
Statistical Mechanics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.16642