Coarse-grained Modeling of Colloidal Suspensions

Speaker

Dr Cristiano De Michele, LE STUDIUM RESEARCH FELLOW 
FROM : Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
IN RESIDENCE AT: Centre de Biophysique Moléculaire  UPR4301 - CNRS - Orléans, France

Abstract

The work of Metropolis on Monte Carlo simulation paved the way for modern computational physics and computer experiments. A "third way" of studying physical systems, which complements theory and experiment. Before computer simulations, the only way to make thermodynamic predictions on a real material was to make use of approximation theories. Nevertheless, if spatial correlations in a system extend to mesoscopic or macroscopic length scales, the number of particles can become too large for the computational power of computers. A multi-scale modelling approach using information from lower scales moves from a lower to a higher level by a suitable coarse-graining of the system and reduces the number of simulated particles, thus allowing for longer time and length scales to be accessed. 

Cholesteric texture of a concentrated solution of DNA dodecamers. Inset: coarsegrained modeling of DNA which has been used to study the hierarchical chirality propagation from helical dodecamers to cholesteric phase through reversible polymerization.