Research Interests

My current interests center on interparticle interactions, microscopic structure, and macroscopic properties of condensed matter. Systems of interest are primarily soft materials: colloidal suspensions (paints, inks, clays), surfactants (soaps, detergents), and polymers (rubbers, plastics). At times, I have also been known to dabble in metals, quasicrystals, and quantum fluids. Statistical mechanical and computer simulation methods are used to model effective interactions and predict phase transitions.

Current Projects

• Effective Interactions in Charge-Stabilized Colloidal Suspensions

• Charge Renormalization in Charged Colloids (with Ben Lu)

• Phase Behavior of Charged Colloids and Colloid-Polymer Mixtures: Monte Carlo Simulations (with Ben Lu)

• Effective Interactions in Polyelectrolyte Solutions (with Hao Wang): Polyelectrolyte Stars (animation)

• Colloid-Induced Fluctuations in Polymer Shape and Demixing of Colloid-Polymer Mixtures (with Emmanuel Mbamala and Sylvio May)

• Two-Dimensional Dipolar Colloidal Crystals (with Ben Lu):
  Melting (animation), E-Ink (animation)

Co-organizer of CECAM Workshop on "Effective Interactions and Phase Transitions in Colloidal Suspensions," June 28-30, 1999, Lyon, France.

---

Group Members

Ben Lu is a Ph.D. student investigating phase behavior of charged colloids and colloid-polymer mixtures by Monte Carlo simulation.

Former Postdoctoral Fellows:

Dr. Emmanuel Mbamala (currently at Department of Physics, Federal University of Technology, P.M.B. 1526 Owerri, Nigeria) is exploring colloid-induced polymer shape variations in colloid-polymer mixtures via Monte Carlo simulation.

Dr. Hao Wang (currently in the Department of Structural and Chemical Biology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY) .

---

Teaching

Fall 2009: PHYS 485/685 -- Quantum Mechanics I (syllabus)

Spring 2009: PHYS 752 -- Mathematical Methods in Physics (syllabus)

Fall 2008: PHYS 370 -- Computational Physics (syllabus), PHYS 252 -- University Physics II

Spring 2008: PHYS 251R -- University Physics I Recitation (team taught) (syllabus)

Fall 2007: PHYS 485/685 -- Quantum Mechanics I (syllabus)

Spring 2007: PHYS 782 -- Condensed Matter Physics (syllabus)

Fall 2006: PHYS 251 -- University Physics I (syllabus)

Spring 2006: PHYS 485 -- Quantum Mechanics I (syllabus)

Fall 2005: PHYS 758 -- Statistical Physics (syllabus)

Spring 2005: PHYS 782 -- Solid State Physics II (syllabus)

Fall 2004: PHYS 361 -- Electromagnetic Theory (syllabus)

Spring 2003: PHYS 758 -- Statistical Physics (syllabus)

Fall 2002: PHYS 252 -- University Physics II

Spring 2002: PHYS 110 -- Introductory Astronomy

Fall 2001: PHYS 252 -- University Physics II

Spring 2001: PHYS 110 -- Introductory Astronomy

Fall 2000: PHYS 753 -- Mathematical Methods in Physics II

Animations

(coded in Java by Dr. Anne Denton)

Brownian Motion Applet

Faraday's Law Applet

Photos

(photographer: Hao Wang)

Soap film suspended from a Zometool frame.

Superconducting levitation

Is it magic or physics?

---

Publications

B. Lu and A. R. Denton, "Charge Renormalization, Thermodynamics, and Structure, of Deionized Colloidal Suspensions," Communications in Computational Physics 7, 235-249 (2010). Special Issue on Structure Formation and Evolution in Soft Matter/Complex Fluid Systems (published online August 24, 2009). cond-mat

A. R. Denton, "Charge Renormalization, Effective Interactions, and Thermodynamics of Deionized Colloidal Suspensions," J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 20, 494230 (2008). cond-mat

A. R. Denton, "Effective Interactions in Soft Materials," in Nanostructured Soft Matter: Experiment, Theory, Simulation and Perspectives, ed. A. V. Zvelindovsky, pp. 395-433 (Springer, Dordrecht, 2007). reprint cond-mat

A. R. Denton, "Electroneutrality and Phase Stability of Colloidal Suspensions," Phys. Rev. E 76 , 051401 (2007). cond-mat

Ben Lu and Alan R. Denton, "Phase Separation of Charge-Stabilized Colloids: A Gibbs Ensemble Monte Carlo Simulation Study," Phys. Rev. E 75 , 061403 (2007). cond-mat

A. R. Denton, "Phase Separation in Charge-Stabilized Colloidal Suspensions: Influence of Nonlinear Screening," Phys. Rev. E 73, 041407 (2006). cond-mat

Hao Wang and Alan R. Denton, "Effective Electrostatic Interactions in Solutions of Polyelectrolyte Stars with Rigid Rodlike Arms," J. Chem. Phys. 123, 244901-1-9 (2005). cond-mat

Alan R. Denton and Matthias Schmidt, "Mixtures of Charged Colloid and Neutral Polymer: Influence of Electrostatic Interactions on Demixing and Interfacial Tension," J. Chem. Phys. 122, 2449111-1-7 (2005). cond-mat

H. Wang and A. R. Denton, "Effective Electrostatic Interactions in Suspensions of Polyelectrolyte Brush-Coated Colloids," Phys. Rev. E 70, 041404-1-8 (2004). cond-mat

A. R. Denton, "Nonlinear Screening and Effective Electrostatic Interactions in Charge-Stabilized Colloidal Suspensions," Phys. Rev. E 70, 031404-1-18 (2004). cond-mat (long) cond-mat (short)

A. R. Denton, "Counterion Penetration and Effective Electrostatic Interactions in Solutions of Polyelectrolyte Stars and Microgels, " Phys. Rev. E 67, 011804-1-10 (2003). reprint

M. Schmidt, A. R. Denton, and J. M. Brader, "Fluid Demixing in Colloid-Polymer Mixtures: Influence of Polymer Interactions, " J. Chem. Phys. 118, 1541-1549 (2003).

A. R. Denton and M. Schmidt, "Colloid-Induced Polymer Compression, " J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 14, 12051-12062 (2002). cond-mat

M. Schmidt and A. R. Denton, "Demixing of Colloid-Polymer Mixtures in Poor Solvents," Phys. Rev. E 65, 061410-1-6 (2002). cond-mat

M. Schmidt and A. R. Denton, "Colloids, Polymers, and Needles: Demixing Phase Behavior," Phys. Rev. E 65, 021508-1-8 (2002). cond-mat

A. R. Denton, "Effective Interactions and Volume Energies in Charged Colloids: Linear Response Theory," Phys. Rev. E 62, 3855-3864 (2000). cond-mat

J. Roth and A. R. Denton, "Solid-Phase Structures of the Dzugutov Pair Potential, " Phys. Rev. E 61, 6845-6857 (2000). cond-mat

A. R. Denton, "Effective Interactions and Volume Energies in Charge-Stabilized Colloidal Suspensions," J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 11, 10061-10071 (1999). cond-mat

A. R. Denton, G. Kahl, and J. Hafner, "Freezing of Simple Liquid Metals," J. Non-Crystalline Solids 250-252, 15 (1999). cond-mat

A. R. Denton and H. L�wen, "Stability of Colloidal Quasicrystals," Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 469-472 (1998). cond-mat

A. R. Denton and H. L�wen, "Unusual Phase Behaviour from Peculiar Pair Potentials," Prog. Coll. Int. Sci. 104, 160 (1997) [Proceedings of the International Workshop on Optical Methods and the Physics of Colloidal Dispersions, 30.9 -- 1.10.1996, Mainz, Germany]

A. R. Denton and H. L�wen, "Isostructural Solid-Solid Transitions in Square-Shoulder Systems," J. Phys.: Condens. Matt. 9, L1 (1997).

A. R. Denton and H. L�wen, "Influence of Short-Range Attractive and Repulsive Interactions on the Phase Behaviour of Model Colloidal Suspensions," J. Phys.: Condens. Matt. 9, 8907 (1997).

A. R. Denton and J. Hafner, "Thermodynamically Stable One-Component Metallic Quasicrystals," Europhys. Lett. 38, 189 (1997). cond-mat

A. R. Denton and J. Hafner, "Thermodynamically Stable One-Component Quasicrystals: A Density-Functional Survey of Relative Stabilities," Phys. Rev. B 56, 2469 (1997). cond-mat

A. R. Denton, P. Nielaba, and N. W. Ashcroft, "Density-Functional Theory of Quantum Freezing: Sensitivity to Liquid-State Structure and Statistics," J. Phys.: Condens. Matt. 9, 4061 (1997). cond-mat

A. R. Denton and P. A. Egelstaff, "Implicit Finite-Size Effects in Computer Simulations," Z. Phys. B 103, 343 (1997). cond-mat

J. J. Salacuse, A. R. Denton, and P. A. Egelstaff, "Finite-Size Effects in Molecular Dynamics Simulations: Static Structure Factor and Compressibility I. Theoretical Method," Phys. Rev. E 53, 2382 (1996).

J. J. Salacuse, A. R. Denton, P. A. Egelstaff, M. Tau, and L. Reatto, "Finite-Size Effects in Molecular Dynamics Simulations: Static Structure Factor and Compressibility II. Application to a Model Krypton Fluid," Phys. Rev. E 53, 2390 (1996).

A. R. Denton, N. W. Ashcroft, and W. A. Curtin, "Density-Functional Approach to the Equation of State of a Hard-Sphere Crystal," Phys. Rev. E 51, 65 (1995).

A. R. Denton, C. G. Gray, and D. E. Sullivan, "Orientational Ordering of Surfactant Monolayers Adsorbed at the Air-Water Interface: Structural Model and Fit to Neutron Reflectivity Data," Chem. Phys. Lett. 219, 310 (1994).

A. R. Denton and N. W. Ashcroft, "Weighted-Density-Functional Theory of Nonuniform Fluid Mixtures: Application to the Structure of Binary Hard-Sphere Mixtures Near a Hard Wall," Phys. Rev. A 44, 8242-8248 (1991).

A. R. Denton and N. W. Ashcroft, "Density-Functional Approach to the Structure of Classical Uniform Fluids," Phys. Rev. A 44, 1219-1227 (1991).

A. R. Denton, N. W. Ashcroft, "Vegard's Law," Phys. Rev. A 43, 3161-3164 (1991).

A. R. Denton, P. Nielaba, K. J. Runge and N. W. Ashcroft, "Freezing of a Quantum Hard-Sphere Liquid at Zero Temperature: A Density-Functional Approach," J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 3, 593-607 (1991).

A. R. Denton and N. W. Ashcroft, "Weighted-Density-Functional Theory of Nonuniform Fluid Mixtures: Application to Freezing of Binary Hard-Sphere Mixtures," Phys. Rev. A 42, 7312-7329 (1990).

A. R. Denton, P. Nielaba, K. J. Runge, N. W. Ashcroft, "Freezing of a Quantum Hard-Sphere Liquid at Zero Temperature: A Density-Functional Approach," Phys. Rev. Lett. 64, 1529-1532 (1990).

A. R. Denton and N. W. Ashcroft, "Reply to Comment on 'Modified Weighted-Density-Functional Theory of Nonuniform Classical Liquids'," Phys. Rev. A 41, 2224-2226 (1990).

A. R. Denton and N. W. Ashcroft, "Modified Weighted-Density-Functional Theory of Nonuniform Classical Liquids," Phys. Rev. A 39, 4701-4708 (1989).

A. R. Denton and N. W. Ashcroft, "High-Order Direct Correlation Functions of Uniform Classical Liquids," Phys. Rev. A 39, 426-429 (1989).

R. C. Desai and A. R. Denton, "Fractal Properties of Clusters During Spinodal Decomposition," in On Growth and Form, ed. H. E. Stanley, N. Ostrowsky (Martinus Nijhoff, Dordrecht, 1986).

---

Return to Physics Department home page.

---

Last modified 20 August 2009 by Alan Denton

---

"This individual WWW page represents the views of the author and not necessarily those of North Dakota State University. NDSU is not responsible or liable for its contents. Please direct comments and/or questions to the contact person identified on this page."