Phase diagrams of ‘‘simple’’ fluids with extreme pair potentials

Abstract

It is shown that strongly reducing the range of the attractions of a simple fluid will transform its phase diagram from the usual type, with a fluid-fluid critical point and a fluid-fluid-solid triple point, into its fluid-solid mirror image, with a solid-solid critical point and a solid-solid-fluid triple point. This scenario could be of relevance to the phase behavior of colloidal dispersions.