| Wed March 25th 2015 16:00 – 17:00 ZH286 | Seminar | Unraveling the origin of the liquid-liquid transition in tetrahedral particles Laura Filion |
Details:One of the most fascinating and yet controversial hypotheses for explaining the origin of the numerous thermodynamic anomalies characterizing liquid water postulates the presence of a metastable, second-order, liquid-liquid critical point (LLCP) . Located in the so-called ´´no-man´s land´´, where spontaneous crystallization obscures the liquid-liquid phase transition, it is impossible to directly access the LLCP experimentally in order to conclusively prove its existence. In this talk I will examine this challenging problem from two different directions. Namely, I will i) explore the LLCP using a simple, single-component patchy-particle model (inspired by colloidal model systems) which allows us to identify two key ingredients which control the existence and stability of a LLCP, as well as ii) introduce a simple theoretical model based on Wertheim theory that allows us to explore the liquid-liquid phase transition. | ||
