Density depletion and enhanced fluctuations in water near hydrophobic solutes: identifying the underlying physics
Mary K. Coe,
Robert Evans,
Nigel B. Wilding
Abstract:We investigate the origin of the density depletion and enhanced density fluctuations that occur in water in the vicinity of an extended hydrophobic solute. We argue that both phenomena are remnants of the critical drying surface phase transition that occurs at liquid-vapor coexistence in the macroscopic planar limit, ie. as the solute radius Rs → ∞. Focusing on the density profile ρ(r) and a sensitive spatial measure of fluctuations, the local compressibility profile χ(r), we develop a scaling theory which exp… Show more
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