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This paper uses molecular dynamics simulations of Stockmayer particles to model dipolar chain formation in fluids. It demonstrates that the chain-size distribution follows an exponential decay with characteristic size $s_0$ across broad regions of the phase space. The authors develop an effective thermodynamic potential $\phi$ that accurately describes $s_0$ using bonding energy, crowding penalty, and translational entropy, providing a compact description of aggregate statistics.
A simple thermodynamic potential can accurately predict chain formation in dipolar fluids, revealing surprising order in a complex self-assembly process.
Dipolar fluids are known to exhibit complex self-assembly at low temperatures, yet a compact thermodynamic description of their aggregate statistics has remained elusive. Using molecular dynamics simulations of Stockmayer particles with a purely repulsive WCA core, we show that over broad regions of the ($\rho$, $T$) phase space the chain-size distribution follows an exponential decay with characteristic size $s_0$. Within this regime, we find that $s_0$ can be accurately described by an effective thermodynamic potential $\phi$ that incorporates bonding energy, a crowding penalty, and translational entropy. Identifying deviations from this ideal scaling provides a further division of the phase space into four regions. Therefore, our results locate a regime of relatively simple chain statistics and offer an alternative regime-based perspective on dipolar self-assembly.