Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Keiko M Aoki.
We propose a simulation method for liquid-liquid interface under constant surface tension and constant normal pressure. The method introduces an anisotropic factor in the cell dynamics which avoids artifacts such as continuous expansion or contraction of the cell lengths. This allows simulation of a full range of surface tensions including when the value is 0, i. e, hydrostatic pressure.
Methods of molecular dynamics simulations for anisotropic molecules are presented. The new methods, with an anisotropic factor in the cell dynamics, dramatically reduce the artifacts related to cell shapes and overcome the difficulties of simulating anisotropic molecules under constant hydrostatic pressure or constant volume. The methods are especially effective for anisotropic liquids, such as smectic liquid crystals and membranes, of which the stacks of layers are compressible (elastic in direction perpendicular to the layers) while the layer itself is liquid and only elastic under uniform compressive force. The methods can also be used for crystals and isotropic liquids as well.
We investigate how the interaction of particles mediated by an elastic deformation of a nematic liquid crystal is influenced by the initial deformation of the director field. To this end, we calculate the interaction energy between particles in a nematic cell with hybrid boundary conditions, homeotropic on the surface of one confining plate and planar on the other. We find an analytic form of the interaction energy in the case of weak anchoring on the surface of the particle. This interaction energy sensitively depends on the position of the two particles as well as the interparticle distance and can be nonmonotonic with a minimum in its landscape. This nontrivial energy landscape might lead to a chainlike superstructure of particles.