Physics

Scientists map phase boundary where liquids shift from gas-like to solid-like behavior

How the science connects

ThermodynamicsPhase transition

AI Insight

This study identifies the Frenkel line in Yukawa fluids, which marks a dynamic crossover between liquid-like and gas-like behavior at high temperatures. Using self-consistent relaxation theory, researchers determined thermodynamic conditions where the roton minimum in longitudinal acoustic excitations disappears, indicating the transition. The findings align with molecular dynamics simulations and demonstrate that the Frenkel line can be identified directly from the static structure factor, a measurable structural property.


Understanding the Frenkel line helps explain fundamental liquid behavior under extreme conditions, relevant to systems like complex plasmas, colloidal suspensions, and materials under high pressure. The ability to predict this crossover from structural measurements could improve modeling of liquid dynamics in industrial processes and astrophysical environments.


⚠️ Preprint – Noch nicht peer-reviewed

Dieser Artikel wurde noch nicht von unabhängigen Experten begutachtet. Die Ergebnisse sind vorläufig und sollten mit Vorsicht interpretiert werden.

Abstract: For a simple model fluid, the Yukawa fluid, the condition for dynamic crossover, known as the Frenkel line, is defined. The condition is related to the fact that the roton minimum in the dispersion relation of longitudinal acoustic-like excitations exists only when the collective vibrational dynamics of particles dominates in the liquid. Based on the self-consistent relaxation theory for the Yukawa fluid, thermodynamic states are determined in which the roton minimum disappears. The obtained values of the state parameters for the Frenkel line are consistent with the results of studies in which the position of this line on the phase diagram of the Yukawa fluid was determined using molecular dynamics simulations. It is shown that the Frenkel line in this system can be determined directly from the structural characteristic — the static structure factor. A physical interpretation of the roton minimum frequency for the simple liquids near the Frenkel line is proposed.

Source: Frenkel line of Yukawa fluids within the self-consistent relaxation theory