Grand canonical potential

The grand canonical ensemble simulations model systems in which the chemical potential (/x), the volume and temperature are held fixed while the number of particles changes. The approach is very useful for simulating phase behavior which requires a constant chemical potential. Grand Canonical Monte Carlo simulation has been used to calculate sorption isotherms for a number of difierent microporous silicate systems. The simulations are used to model the equilibrium between zeolite and sorbate phases and, as such, it provides a natural way of simulating sorption isothermsl ... 

The CBMC algorithm greatly improves the conformational sampling for molecules with articulated structure and increases the efficiency of chain insertions (required for the calculation of chemical potentials, grand-canonical, and Gibbs ensemble simulations) by several orders of magnitude. To make these simulations more efficient and to use this technique for branched molecules, several extensions are needed ... 

The grand canonical ensemble is a set of systems each with the same volume V, the same temperature T and the same chemical potential p (or if there is more than one substance present, the same set of p. s). This corresponds to a set of systems separated by diathennic and penneable walls and allowed to equilibrate. In classical thennodynamics, the appropriate fimction for fixed p, V, and Tis the productpV(see equation (A2.1.3 7)1 and statistical mechanics relates pV directly to the grand canonical partition function... 

In a canonical ensemble, the system is held at fixed (V, T, N). In a grand canonical ensemble the (V, T p) of the system are fixed. The change from to p as an independent variable is made by a Legendre transfomiation in which the dependent variable, the Flelmlioltz free energy, is replaced by the grand potential... 

The correlation functions provide an alternate route to the equilibrium properties of classical fluids. In particular, the two-particle correlation fimction of a system with a pairwise additive potential detemrines all of its themiodynamic properties. It also detemrines the compressibility of systems witir even more complex tliree-body and higher-order interactions. The pair correlation fiinctions are easier to approximate than the PFs to which they are related they can also be obtained, in principle, from x-ray or neutron diffraction experiments. This provides a useful perspective of fluid stmcture, and enables Hamiltonian models and approximations for the equilibrium stmcture of fluids and solutions to be tested by direct comparison with the experimentally detennined correlation fiinctions. We discuss the basic relations for the correlation fiinctions in the canonical and grand canonical ensembles before considering applications to model systems. 

The grand canonical ensemble is a collection of open systems of given chemical potential p, volume V and temperature T, in which the number of particles or the density in each system can fluctuate. It leads to an important expression for the compressibility Kj, of a one-component fluid ... 

The grand canonical ensemble corresponds to a system whose number of particles and energy can fluctuate, in exchange with its surroundings at specified p VT. The relevant themiodynamic quantity is the grand potential n = A - p A. The configurational distribution is conveniently written... 

To test the results of the chemical potential evaluation, the grand canonical ensemble Monte Carlo simulation of the bulk associating fluid has also been performed. The algorithm of this simulation was identical to that described in Ref. 172. All the calculations have been performed for states far from the liquid-gas coexistence curve [173]. 

FIG. 21 Dependence of the average density on the configurational chemical potential. The solid line denotes the grand canonical Monte Carlo data, the long dashed fine corresponds to the osmotic Monte Carlo results for ZL = 40, and the dotted line for ZL = 80. (From Ref. 172.)... 

To conclude, the introduction of species-selective membranes into the simulation box results in the osmotic equilibrium between a part of the system containing the products of association and a part in which only a one-component Lennard-Jones fluid is present. The density of the fluid in the nonreactive part of the system is lower than in the reactive part, at osmotic equilibrium. This makes the calculations of the chemical potential efficient. The quahty of the results is similar to those from the grand canonical Monte Carlo simulation. The method is neither restricted to dimerization nor to spherically symmetric associative interactions. Even in the presence of higher-order complexes in large amounts, the proposed approach remains successful. 

Let us consider a simple model of a quenched-annealed system which consists of particles belonging to two species species 0 is quenched (matrix) and species 1 is annealed, i.e., the particles are allowed to equlibrate between themselves in the presence of 0 particles. We assume that the subsystem composed of 0 particles has been a usual fluid before quenching. One can characterize it either by the density or by the value of the chemical potential The interparticle interaction Woo(r) does not need to be specified for the moment. It is just assumed that the fluid with interaction woo(r) has reached an equlibrium at certain temperature Tq, and then the fluid has been quenched at this temperature without structural relaxation. Thus, the distribution of species 0 is any one from a set of equihbrium configurations corresponding to canonical or grand canonical ensemble. We denote the interactions between annealed particles by Un r), and the cross fluid-matrix interactions by Wio(r). 

According to Eq. (8) the pressure in terms of the grand canonical potential per unit volume is... 

The arrows indicate a semi-permeable membrane and the species allowed to permeate is shown within the arrows. The parentheses show a GEMC phase (or region) and the species it contains. The first and the last region are also connected to each other. Using such a scheme, Bryk et al. showed that osmotic Monte Carlo can be successfully used to study the association of two different molecular species when an associating intermolecular potential is included in the simulation. The results agreed well with the more traditional grand-canonical Monte Carlo methods. 

AB diblock copolymers in the presence of a selective surface can form an adsorbed layer, which is a planar form of aggregation or self-assembly. This is very useful in the manipulation of the surface properties of solid surfaces, especially those that are employed in liquid media. Several situations have been studied both theoretically and experimentally, among them the case of a selective surface but a nonselective solvent [75] which results in swelling of both the anchor and the buoy layers. However, we concentrate on the situation most closely related to the micelle conditions just discussed, namely, adsorption from a selective solvent. Our theoretical discussion is adapted and abbreviated from that of Marques et al. [76], who considered many features not discussed here. They began their analysis from the grand canonical free energy of a block copolymer layer in equilibrium with a reservoir containing soluble block copolymer at chemical potential peK. They also considered the possible effects of micellization in solution on the adsorption process [61]. We assume in this presentation that the anchor layer is in a solvent-free, melt state above Tg. The anchor layer is assumed to be thin and smooth, with a sharp interface between it and the solvent swollen buoy layer. 

The essential influence of surface roughening is also present in this model. Grand canonical Monte Carlo calculations were used to generate adatom populations at various temperatures up to Chemical potentials corresponding to those in the bulk LJ crystal were used, and these produced adatom densities that increased with temperature and roughly approximated the values observed in Ising model simulations below T. ... 

The presence of an (applied) potential at the aqueous/metal interface can, in addition, result in significant differences in the reaction thermodynamics, mechanisms, and structural topologies compared with those found in the absence of a potential. Modeling the potential has been a challenge, since most of today s ab initio methods treat chemical systems in a canonical form whereby the number of electrons are held constant, rather than in the grand canonical form whereby the potential is held constant. Recent advances have been made by mimicking the electrochemical model... 

With applications to protein solution thermodynamics in mind, we now present an alternative derivation of the potential distribution theorem. Consider a macroscopic solution consisting of the solute of interest and the solvent. We describe a macroscopic subsystem of this solution based on the grand canonical ensemble of statistical thermodynamics, accordingly specified by a temperature, a volume, and chemical potentials for all solution species including the solute of interest, which is identified with a subscript index 1. The average number of solute molecules in this subsystem is... 

Fig. 3.4. Evolution of the weights i],(N) and the histograms fi(N) in a grand-canonical implementation of the multicanonical method for the Lennard-lones fluid al V 125. The temperature is T = 1.2 and the initial chemical potential is /./ = —3.7. The weights are updated after each 10-million-step interval, and the numbers indicate the iteration number. The second peak in the weights at large particle numbers indicates that the initial chemical potential is close to its value at coexistence...

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