Lucas Varela 1 Gabriel Téllez 1 Emmanuel Trizac 2
Physical Review E , American Physical Society (APS), 2017, 95 (2), pp.022112
We study a one dimensional Coulomb system, where two charged colloids are neutralized by a collection of point counterions, with global neutrality. Temperature being given, two situations are addressed: the colloids are either kept at fixed positions (canonical ensemble), or the force acting on the colloids is fixed (isobaric-isothermal ensemble). The corresponding partition functions are worked out exactly, in view of determining which arrangement of counterions is optimal: how many counterions should be in the confined segment between the colloids? For the remaining ions outside, is there a left/right symmetry breakdown? We evidence a cascade of transitions, as system size is varied in the canonical treatment, or as pressure is increased in the isobaric formulation.
- 1. Universidad de los Andes
- 2. LPTMS – Laboratoire de Physique Théorique et Modèles Statistiques