Jammed structures for confined hard spheres

A combination of analytical theory and molecular dynamics simulation is used to study the relationship between thermodynamics and structure in a system of hard spheres confined to a narrow, quasi- one-dimensional channel. Hard sphere particles are known to form chiral helical jammed packings when they are confined to narrow cylindrical channels. While most studies have focused on identifying the most dense packing as a function of the channel diameter, we study the role of defects in the packings in order to describe the entire inherent structure landscape of these systems. The presence of topological defects that change the local chirality of the helix lowers the packing density and alters the local packing struct ure. We also study how these systems explore their underlying landscape as a function of density.

Keywords:

Jammed Structures , Narrow Channel , Inherent Structures , Particle Packing