The simplicity of hard spheres as a model system is deceptive. Although the particles
interact solely through volume exclusion, that nevertheless suffices for a wealth of static and …

This review describes some important physical characteristics of the pathways (ie,
dynamical processes) by which molecular, nanoscale, and micrometer-scale self-assembly …

Colloidal model systems allow studying crystallization kinetics under fairly ideal conditions,
with rather well-characterized pair interactions and minimized external influences. In …

Nucleation is an activated process in which the system has to overcome a free energy
barrier in order for a first-order phase transition between the metastable and the stable …

The formation of crystals has proven to be one of the most challenging phase
transformations to quantitatively model—let alone to actually understand—be it by means of …

Droplets and bubbles are thought to be two sides of the same coin; this work determines
how true this is at the molecular scale. Stable cylindrical nanodroplets and nanobubbles are …

Crystallization, a prototypical self-organization process during which a disordered state
spontaneously transforms into a crystal characterized by a regular arrangement of its …

Colloidal systems offer ideal conditions to study the nucleation process, both from an
experimental viewpoint, due to their relatively large size and long time scales, and from a …

Semicrystalline polymers are ubiquitous, yet despite their fundamental and industrial
importance, the theory of homogeneous nucleation from a melt remains a subject of debate …

Combining three numerical methods (forward flux sampling, seeding of droplets, and finite-
size droplets), we probe the crystallization of hard spheres over the full range from close to …