Equation of state and jamming density for equivalent bi- and polydisperse, smooth, hard sphere systems

We study bi- and polydisperse mixtures of hard sphere fluids with extreme size ratios up to 100. Simulation results are compared with previously found analytical equations of state by looking at the compressibility factor, Z, and agreement is found with much better than 1% deviation in the fluid regime. A slightly improved empirical correction to Z is proposed. When the density is further increased, excluded volume becomes important, but there is still a close relationship between many-component mixtures and their binary, two-component equivalents (which are defined on basis of the first three moments of the size distribution). Furthermore, we determine the size ratios for which the liquid-solid transition exhibits crystalline, amorphous or mixed system structure. Near the jamming density, Z is independent of the size distribution and follows a -1 power law as function of the difference from the jamming density (Z -> infinity). In this limit, Z depends only on one free parameter, the jamming density itself, as reported for several different size distributions with a wide range of widths. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3694030]