Thermodynamics predicts how confinement modifies hard-sphere dynamics

Mittal, Jeetain; Errington, Jeffrey R.; Truskett, Thomas M.

Thermodynamics predicts how confinement modifies hard-sphere dynamics

Authors

Mittal, Jeetain

Errington, Jeffrey R.

Truskett, Thomas M.

Description

We study how confining the equilibrium hard-sphere fluid to restrictive one- and two-dimensional channels with smooth interacting walls modifies its structure, dynamics, and entropy using molecular dynamics and transition-matrix Monte Carlo simulations. Although confinement strongly affects local structuring, the relationships between self-diffusivity, excess entropy, and average fluid density are, to an excellent approximation, independent of channel width or particle-wall interactions. Thus, thermodynamics can be used to predict how confinement impacts dynamics.
4 pages, 4 figures