An Interpretation of Covariance Relations for Wetting and Wedge Filling Transitions Articles uri icon

publication date

  • May 2010

start page

  • 204704

issue

  • 20

volume

  • 132

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 0021-9606

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1089-7690

abstract

  • Recent studies have shown that there exist precise connections (or covariance relations) between adsorption properties for substrates with different shapes. This occurs, for example, when a fluid is adsorbed in a
    linear wedge. In this case, the influence of the geometry is to shift
    effectively the contact angle from theta to theta−alfa, where alfa
    is the tilt angle. Despite the fact that these relations are obeyed
    both at mean-field level and also exactly in two dimensions (when
    fluctuation effects dominate), their fundamental origin has been
    unclear. Here, we show that they can be traced to a symmetry present in
    interfacial Hamiltonian models, and further relate this to surface
    thermodynamics and the nonlocal nature of interfacial interactions in
    systems with short-ranged forces.