title: Structural Transition in a Fluid of Spheroids: A Low-Density Vestige of Jamming.
abstract: A thermodynamically equilibrated fluid of hard spheroids is a simple model of liquid matter. In this model, the coupling between the rotational degrees of freedom of the constituent particles and their translations may be switched off by a continuous deformation of a spheroid of aspect ratio t into a sphere (t=1). We demonstrate, by experiments, theory, and computer simulations, that dramatic nonanalytic changes in structure and thermodynamics of the fluids take place, as the coupling between rotations and translations is made to vanish. This nonanalyticity, reminiscent of a second-order liquid-liquid phase transition, is not a trivial consequence of the shape of an individual particle. Rather, free volume considerations relate the observed transition to a similar nonanalyticity at t=1 in structural properties of jammed granular ellipsoids. This observation suggests a deep connection to exist between the physics of jamming and the thermodynamics of simple fluids.
authors.affiliation: Physics Department and Institute of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 5290002, Israel.
authors.forename: A P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.affiliation: Research Unit for Physics and Materials Science, Université du Luxembourg, L-1511 Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dorosz
authors.affiliation: School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FD, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: A B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Schofield
authors.affiliation: Research Unit for Physics and Materials Science, Université du Luxembourg, L-1511 Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schilling
authors.affiliation: Physics Department and Institute of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 5290002, Israel.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sloutskin