Jan Korbel will give a virtual talk at the Technical University of Munich as part of the “Oberseminar Dynamics” lectures.
Abstract:
Structure-forming systems are ubiquitous in nature, ranging from atoms building molecules to self-assembly of colloidal amphibolic particles. The understanding of the underlying thermodynamics of such systems remains an important problem.
Here, we derive the entropy for structure-forming systems that differs from Boltzmann-Gibbs entropy by a term that explicitly captures clustered states. For large systems and low concentrations, the approach is equivalent to the grand-canonical ensemble; for small systems, we find significant deviations. We derive the detailed fluctuation theorem and Crooks’ work fluctuation theorem for structure-forming systems. The connection to the theory of particle self-assembly is discussed.
We apply the results to several physical systems. We present the phase diagram for patchy particles described by the Kern-Frenkel potential. We show that the Curie-Weiss model with molecule structures exhibits a first-order phase transition.