Reentrant transitions in a mixture of small and big particles interacting via soft repulsive potential

I Azizi and AY Grosberg and Y Rabin, PHYSICAL REVIEW E, 105, L032604 (2022).

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.105.L032604

We report an observation of a temperature-controlled reentrant transition in simulations of mixtures of small and big particles interacting via a soft repulsive potential in two dimensions. As temperature increases, the system passes from a fluid mixture, to a crystal of big particles in a fluid of small particles, and back to a fluid mixture. Solidification is driven by entropy gain of small particles which overcomes the free-energy cost of confining big ones. Melting results from enhanced interpenetration of particles at high temperature which reduces the entropic forces that stabilize the crystal.

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