Direct determination of phase behavior of square-well fluids

We have combined Gibbs ensemble Monte Carlo simulations with the aggregation volume-biased method in conjunction with the Gibbs-Duhem method to provide the first direct estimates for the vapor-solid, vapor-liquid, and liquid-solid phase coexistences of square-well fluids with three different ranges of attraction. Our results are consistent with the previous simulations and verify the notion that the vapor-liquid coexistence behavior becomes metastable for cases where the attraction well becomes smaller than 1.25 times the particle diameter. In these cases no triple point is found. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.