Clusters in Simple Fluids

TL;DR

This paper reviews the geometric and physical interpretations of clustering in simple fluids, connecting thermodynamics with cluster morphology to better understand the liquid-gas phase transition, including recent self-bound cluster approaches.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive review of cluster definitions in simple fluids, emphasizing their physical relevance and introducing recent developments based on self-bound clusters.

Findings

Clusters offer a geometric view of phase transition

Self-bound clusters provide a recent approach to fluid morphology

The review links thermodynamics with clustering phenomena

Abstract

This article concerns the correspondence between thermodynamics and the morphology of simple fluids in terms of clusters. Definitions of clusters providing a geometric interpretation of the liquid-gas phase transition are reviewed with an eye to establishing their physical relevance. The author emphasizes their main features and basic hypotheses, and shows how these definitions lead to a recent approach based on self-bound clusters. Although theoretical, this tutorial review is also addressed to readers interested in experimental aspects of clustering in simple fluids.