title: Separation and fractionation of order and disorder in highly polydisperse systems.
abstract: We study a polydisperse soft-spheres model for colloids by means of microcanonical Monte Carlo simulations. We consider a polydispersity as high as 24%. Although solidification occurs, neither a crystal nor an amorphous state are thermodynamically stable. A finite size scaling analysis reveals that in the thermodynamic limit: (a) the fluid-solid transition is rather a crystal-amorphous phase-separation, (b) such phase-separation is preceded by the dynamic glass transition, and (c) small and big particles arrange themselves in the two phases according to a complex pattern not predicted by any fractionation scenario.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física Teórica I, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Fernández
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Martín-Mayor
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Seoane
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Verrocchio
mesh_terms: D005591:Chemical Fractionation / Q000379:methods*; D003102:Colloids / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D008956:Models, Chemical
chemical_list: D003102:Colloids