Random sequential adsorption with restructuring in two dimensions

Abstract

A modified version of the random sequential adsorption model for the deposition of spherical particles onto a plane is presented. Successive particles are added via randomly positioned vertical trajectories and, if they do not stick to the plane at first contact, follow the path of steepest descent on the previously deposited particles before being adsorbed. All particles reaching a stable position in contact with three previously adsorbed particles are removed. The limiting coverage is found to be 0.610 56+or-0.000 05 (larger than that of the standard RSA model) and is shown to be reached exponentially with the number of trials. The size distribution of connected clusters of spheres is analysed and is found to exhibit an exponential decay for large cluster sizes.