A deformable Gay-Berne model for the simulation of liquid crystals and soft materials

none2We present a Deformable Gay--Berne (DGB) pair potential for ellipsoidal particles that allows for dynamic fluctuations in their shape and interaction anisotropy. We investigate the effect that various intrinsic distributions of shape and interaction parameters have on the liquid crystal phases formed in a system of deformable Gay-Berne particles. We show that deformability can stabilise smectic formation and that mesomorphic phase transitions are accompanied by a change of molecular shape.mixedL. Muccioli; C. ZannoniL. Muccioli; C. Zannon