Equilibrium and non-equilibrium properties of patchy particles gels
John Russo (University of Rome La Sapienza)

Patchy colloids are a new and promising class of colloidal particles with directional interactions given by short-range attractive spots located on their surface. The reduced valence interactions provide an ideal model to study colloidal gels which can be obtained by a succession of equilibrium steps.
In this seminar I will first present a detailed study of the structural and dynamical properties of a binary mixture of bi-functional and three-functional Patchy particles. Then I will focus on the aging behavior of such mixtures, i.e. the irreversible aggregation process which follows a temperature quench.
A tentative comparison with experiments will be provided within the framework of the fluctuation-dissipation theorem violations.