Anisotropic Phase Transitions of Hard-Spheres Confined in Hard Walls

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Monte Carlo simulations of hard-spheres confined in parallel hard walls have been carried out extensively at various densities and for various wall distances. The compressibility factors in the directions parallel and normal to the wall have been calculated from the radial free space distribution function (RFSDF) with the results showing that the compressibility factors normal to the wall are smaller than those in parallel direction and that a solid phase is formed in the direction normal to the wall while a fluid phase remains in the parallel direction. An order parameter is found to classify the phases whether a system (or a molecule) is in a fluid or a solid state. The compressibility factors of narrow wall are very small compared to those when the wall is put away. A plausible mechanism of the rise of sap in xylem vessel has been proposed.