Title: Progress in Coarse-Graining Thermodynamics and Inhomogeneous Systems with Effective Potentials
Abstract: Due to their computational efficiency, coarse-grained (CG) models are widely adopted for simulating soft materials and, perhaps especially, their interfaces. While rigorous "bottom-up" approaches for parameterizing CG models accurately describe the structure of bulk phases, they are less well developed for modeling thermodynamic properties or inhomogeneous systems. In this talk, we present recent progress in modeling thermodynamic properties with CG models employing effective potentials. Additionally, we present some recent published and unpublished results for systematic coarse-graining of inhomogeneous systems. Finally, we may discuss issues of thermodynamic consistency that arise with bottom-up CG models.