Liquid-vapor interface of the Stockmayer fluid in a uniform external field

The effect of a uniform (nonspatially varying) external field on the liquid-vapor interface of the Stockmayer fluid (Lennard-Jones particles embedded with a point dipole) has been investigated by molecular-dynamics simulations. The long-ranged parts of both the dipole and Lennard-Jones interactions are treated using an Ewald summation, which removes the effects of the cutoff. The direction of the field shifts the critical point and interfacial properties in different directions. For an external field parallel to the interface, the critical temperature increases, while for a field applied perpendicular to the interface, it decreases. The effects of the field on surface tension and interfacial width are also investigated. For zero field, dipoles near the liquid-vapor interface show a weak orientation parallel to the interface. For fields parallel to the interface, ordering in the liquid phase is greater than the vapor, while for fields perpendicular to the interface, the opposite is true.