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A Bifurcation Analysis on the Random Close Packing

Speaker Dr. Xinliang Xu
Affiliation Department of Chemistry and The James Franck Institute The University of Chicago
Date July 19, 2010 (Mon)
Time 4:00-5:00 p.m.
Venue Room 522, 5/F, Chong Yuet Ming Physics Building, HKU

Abstract:

We report a calculation of the packing fraction beyond which a two-dimensional hard disc fluid cannot be compressed, and associate that packing fraction with the transition from the metastable fluid to a random close-packed state. Our analysis is based on locating a particular bifurcation of the solutions of the integral equation for the inhomogeneous single particle density at the transition between different spatial structures. The predicted packing fraction at which the metastable fluid to random close-packed state transition occurs, 0.84, is in excellent agreement with experimental observations.

 

Coffee and tea will be served 20 minutes prior to the seminar.