title: A two-component mixture of charged particles confined in a channel: melting.
abstract: The melting of a binary system of charged particles confined in a quasi-one-dimensional parabolic channel is studied through Monte Carlo simulations. At zero temperature the particles are ordered in parallel chains. The melting is anisotropic and different melting temperatures are obtained according to the spatial direction, and the different kinds of particles present in the system. Melting is very different for the single-, two- and four-chain configurations. A temperature induced structural phase transition is found between two different four-chain ordered states which is absent in the mono-disperse system. In the mixed regime, where the two kinds of particles are only slightly different, melting is almost isotropic and a thermally induced homogeneous distribution of the distinct kinds of charges is observed.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Caixa Postal 6030, Campus do Pici, 60455-760 Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil. wandemberg@fisica.ufc.br
authors.forename: W P
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Farias
authors.forename: F M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Peeters
mesh_terms: D003102:Colloids / Q000737:chemistry*; D045424:Complex Mixtures / Q000737:chemistry*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006358:Hot Temperature; D008956:Models, Chemical; D044367:Phase Transition; D055672:Static Electricity
chemical_list: D003102:Colloids; D045424:Complex Mixtures