Microscopic model of amphiphilic assembly

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Abstract
A microscopic model of lyotropic systems is presented. Amphiphile and water molecules are described by simple intermolecular potentials which correctly include important excluded volume effects and the relative energy scales in the system. The present model represents an attempt to bridge the gap between more primitive lattice models and highly complex all‐atom descriptions of amphiphilic systems. A constant‐temperature molecular dynamics study in which the divergence of the pressure tensor is constrained to zero is discussed. Preliminary calculations on the phase diagram, order parameters, and dynamical observables of the model are reported. Some comments on improvements to the model and the theoretical techniques used to study it are made in the final section of the paper.