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Updated: Oct 11, 2025

Phase Diagram Characterization Using Magnetic Beads as Liquid Carriers
Published on: September 4, 2015
Phase diagram of SALR fluids on spherical surfaces
Stefano Franzini1, Luciano Reatto1, Davide Pini1
1Dipartimento di Fisica "A. Pontremoli", Università di Milano, Via Celoria 16, 20133 Milano, Italy. stefano.franzini93@gmail.com.
Abstract:
We investigate the phase diagram of a fluid of hard-core disks confined to the surface of a sphere and whose interaction potential contains a short-range attraction followed by a long-range repulsive tail (SALR). Based on previous work in the bulk we derive a stability criterion for the homogeneous phase of the fluid, and locate a region of instability linked to the presence of a negative minimum in the spherical harmonics expansion of the interaction potential. The inhomogeneous phases contained within this region are characterized using a mean-field density functional theory. We find several inhomogeneous patterns that can be separated into three broad classes: cluster crystals, stripes, and bubble crystals, each containing topological defects. Interestingly, while the periodicity of inhomogeneous phases at large densities is mainly determined by the position of the negative minimum of the potential expansion, the finite size of the system induces a richer behavior at smaller densities.
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