TY - JOUR A1 - Höfling, Felix A1 - Dietrich, Siegfried T1 - Structure of liquid–vapor interfaces: perspectives from liquid state theory, large-scale simulations, and potential grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction JF - The Journal of Chemical Physics N2 - Grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD) is a scattering technique which allows one to characterize the structure of fluid interfaces down to the molecular scale, including the measurement of the surface tension and of the interface roughness. However, the corresponding standard data analysis at non-zero wave numbers has been criticized as to be inconclusive because the scattering intensity is polluted by the unavoidable scattering from the bulk. Here we overcome this ambiguity by proposing a physically consistent model of the bulk contribution which is based on a minimal set of assumptions of experimental relevance. To this end, we derive an explicit integral expression for the background scattering, which can be determined numerically from the static structure factors of the coexisting bulk phases as independent input. Concerning the interpretation of GIXRD data inferred from computer simulations, we account also for the finite sizes of the bulk phases, which are unavoidable in simulations. The corresponding leading-order correction beyond the dominant contribution to the scattered intensity is revealed by asymptotic analysis, which is characterized by the competition between the linear system size and the X-ray penetration depth in the case of simulations. Specifically, we have calculated the expected GIXRD intensity for scattering at the planar liquid--vapor interface of Lennard-Jones fluids with truncated pair interactions via extensive, high-precision simulations. The reported data cover interfacial and bulk properties of fluid states along the whole liquid--vapor coexistence line. A sensitivity analysis demonstrates the robustness of our findings concerning the detailed definition of the mean interface position. We conclude that previous claims of an enhanced surface tension at mesoscopic scales are amenable to unambiguous tests via scattering experiments. Y1 - 2024 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0186955 VL - 160 SP - 104107 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Skoblin, Viktor A1 - Höfling, Felix A1 - Christgau, Steffen T1 - Gaining Cross-Platform Parallelism for HAL’s Molecular Dynamics Package using SYCL T2 - 29. PARS-Workshop 2023 N2 - Molecular dynamics simulations are one of the methods in scientific computing that benefit from GPU acceleration. For those devices, SYCL is a promising API for writing portable codes. In this paper, we present the case study of HAL’s MD package that has been successfully migrated from CUDA to SYCL. We describe the different strategies that we followed in the process of porting the code. Following these strategies, we achieved code portability across major GPU vendors. Depending on the actual kernels, both significant performance improvements and regressions are observed. As a side effect of the migration process, we obtained impressing speedups also for execution on CPUs. Y1 - 2023 SN - 0177-0454 VL - 36 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Straube, Arthur A1 - Höfling, Felix T1 - Memory effects in colloidal motion under confinement and driving JF - J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. N2 - The transport of individual particles in inhomogeneous environments is complex and exhibits non-Markovian responses. The latter may be quantified by a memory function within the framework of the linear generalised Langevin equation (GLE). Here, we exemplify the implications of steady driving on the memory function of a colloidal model system for Brownian motion in a corrugated potential landscape, specifically, for one-dimensional motion in a sinusoidal potential. To this end, we consider the overdamped limit of the GLE, which is facilitated by separating the memory function into a singular (Markovian) and a regular (non-Markovian) part. Relying on exact solutions for the investigated model, we show that the random force entering the GLE must display a bias far from equilibrium, which corroborates a recent general prediction. Based on data for the mean-square displacement (MSD) obtained from Brownian dynamics simulations, we estimate the memory function for different driving strengths and show that already moderate driving accelerates the decay of the memory function by several orders of magnitude in time. We find that the memory may persist on much longer timescales than expected from the convergence of the MSD to its long-time asymptote. Furthermore, the functional form of the memory function changes from a monotonic decay to a non-monotonic, damped oscillatory behaviour, which can be understood from a competition of confined motion and depinning. Our analysis of the simulation data further reveals a pronounced non-Gaussianity, which questions the Gaussian approximation of the random force entering the GLE. Y1 - 2024 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/1751-8121/ad5b2d SN - 1751-8113 VL - 57 SP - 295003 PB - IOP Publishing ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Roy, Sutapa A1 - Höfling, Felix T1 - Critical surface adsorption of confined binary liquids with locally conserved mass and composition JF - Molecular Physics N2 - Close to a solid surface, the properties of a fluid deviate significantly from their bulk values. In this context, we study the surface adsorption profiles of a symmetric binary liquid confined to a slit pore by means of molecular dynamics simulations; the latter naturally entails that mass and concentration are locally conserved. Near a bulk consolute point, where the liquid exhibits a demixing transition with the local concentration as the order parameter, we determine the order parameter profiles and characterise the relevant critical scaling behaviour, in the regime of strong surface attraction, for a range of pore widths and temperatures. The obtained order parameter profiles decay monotonically near the surfaces, also in the presence of a pronounced layering in the number density. Overall, our results agree qualitatively with recent theoretical predictions from a mesoscopic field-theoretical approach for the canonical ensemble. Y1 - 2024 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/00268976.2024.2391998 VL - 122 IS - 21-22 SP - e2391998 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Straube, Arthur A1 - Höfling, Felix T1 - Depinning transition of self-propelled particles JF - Physical Review E N2 - For self-propelled particles in a corrugated potential landscape, we describe a discontinuous change of the classical depinning transition and a host of unique behaviors sensitive to the persistence of the propulsion direction. Exact and semianalytic results for active Brownian particles corroborate a creep regime with a superexponentially suppressed drift velocity upon lowering the force towards the threshold value. This unusual nonlinear response emerges from the competition of two critical scaling laws with exponents of 1/2 for rapidly reorienting particles and 𝑑/2 for particles with a persistent orientation; the latter case depends on the dimensionality 𝑑 of rotational motion and also includes run-and-tumble particles. Additionally, different giant diffusion phenomena occur in the two regimes. Our findings extend to random dynamics with bounded noise near a saddle-node bifurcation and have potential applications in various nonequilibrium problems, including arrested active matter and cell migration. Y1 - 2024 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.110.L062601 VL - 110 IS - 6 SP - L062601 ER -