FREEZING AND INTERFACES - DENSITY FUNCTIONAL THEORIES IN 2 AND 3 DIMENSIONS

In recent years density functional methods of classical statistical mechanics have become very popular for constructing approximate, accurate theories of liquids, crystals and glasses. Promising first-principles theories have been developed for the solid-melt interface, freezing of simple liquids into periodic crystals, ordering of liquid crystals, monolayer adsorption, liquid to solid nucleation, and freezing into aperiodic and even quasiperiodic glasses. The author reviews many of these applications and attempts to explain the popularity of density functional theories, along with their strengths and limitations.