Local structure characterization in particle systems

TL;DR

This paper surveys various tools and metrics for analyzing local structure in particulate soft matter systems, providing derivations, intuition, and software references to aid researchers in structural characterization.

Contribution

It offers a comprehensive overview of local structure metrics for particle systems, including derivations and practical guidance, tailored for both beginners and experienced researchers.

Findings

Provides derivations and intuition for each metric

Includes references to software packages for computation

Covers a range of techniques from simple to complex

Abstract

Many tools and techniques measure local structure in materials in contexts ranging from biology to geology. We provide a survey of those tools and metrics that are especially useful for analyzing particulate soft matter. The metrics we discuss can all be computed from the positions of particles, and are thus most useful when there is access to this information, either from simulation or experimental imaging. For each metric, we provide derivations, intuition regarding its implications, example uses, and references to software packages that compute the metric. Our survey encompasses characterization techniques ranging from the simplest to the most complex, and will be useful for students getting started in the structural characterization of particle systems.