The structural properties of a two-Yukawa fluid: Simulation and analytical results

Standard Monte Carlo simulations are carried out to assess the accuracy of theoretical predictions for the structural properties of a model fluid interacting through a hard-core two-Yukawa potential composed of a short-range attractive well next to a hard repulsive core, followed by a smooth, long-range repulsive tail. Theoretical calculations are performed in the framework provided by the Ornstein-Zernike equation, solved either analytically with the mean spherical approximation (MSA) or iteratively with the hypernetted-chain (HNC) closure. Our analysis shows that both theories are generally accurate in a thermodynamic region corresponding to a dense vapor phase around the critical point. For a suitable choice of potential parameters, namely, when the attractive well is deep and/or large enough, the static structure factor displays a secondary low-Q peak. In this case HNC predictions closely follow the simulation results, whereas MSA results progressively worsen the more pronounced this low-Q peak is. We discuss the appearance of such a peak, also experimentally observed in colloidal suspensions and protein solutions, in terms of the formation of equilibrium clusters in the homogeneous fluid.