Renormalization group theory for fluids

Journal Article · Sun Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1993 · Journal of Chemical Physics; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.465263· OSTI ID:6515864

White, J A; Zhang, S ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics, The American University, Washington, D.C. 20016-8058 (United States)

Some extensions of renormalization group methods to fluids are discussed that may facilitate the development of a general renormalization group theory for real fluids that is capable of predicting their thermodynamic properties globally, including both at the critical point and away from the critical point, from a specification solely of the microscopic interactions among the constituent molecules. The extensions include application to virial series and free energies for freely moving molecules (as contrasted with Hamiltonian methods used for fixed lattices of molecules); inclusion of contributions from fluctuations of very short wavelengths, comparable to the range of the attractive forces; and evaluation of the scale factor for fluctuation amplitudes. An approximate theory incorporating these new features is formulated and illustrated in a simple application to the thermal behavior of [ital n]-pentane in a large extended neighborhood of its critical point.

• DOE Contract Number: FG05-86ER13493
• OSTI ID: 6515864
• Journal Information: Journal of Chemical Physics; (United States), Journal Name: Journal of Chemical Physics; (United States) Vol. 99:3; ISSN JCPSA6; ISSN 0021-9606
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

665000* -- Physics of Condensed Matter-- (1992-)
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
CRITICAL TEMPERATURE
ENERGY
FLUIDS
FREE ENERGY
MECHANICS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
STATISTICAL MECHANICS
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
TRANSITION TEMPERATURE