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Updated: May 20, 2026

Computation of Atmospheric Concentrations of Molecular Clusters from ab initio Thermochemistry
Published on: April 8, 2020
Communication: thermodynamic signatures of cluster formation in fluids with competing interactions
Jean-Marc Bomont1, Jean-Louis Bretonnet, Dino Costa
1Université de Lorraine, LCP-A2MC, EA 3469, 1 Bd. François Arago, Metz, F-57078, France. bomont@univ-metz.fr
Abstract:
Convergent theoretical evidence, based on self-consistent integral equations for the pair structure and on Monte Carlo simulations, is presented for the existence of small simultaneous jump discontinuities of several thermodynamic and structural properties of systems of colloidal particles with competing short-range attractive and long-range repulsive interactions, under physical conditions close to the onset of particle clustering. The discontinuities thus provide a signature of the transition from a homogeneous fluid phase to a locally inhomogeneous cluster phase.
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