Hydrophobic force a Casimir-like effect due to hydrogen bond fluctuations

Abstract

Hydrophobic force, interfacial tension, transverse density profile in confined water system are addressed from first principles of statistical mechanics in a lattice model for water. Using molecular mean field theory technique we deduce explicit expressions for each of the above mentioned phenomena and show that hydrophobic force is a manifestation of Casimir-like effect due to hydrogen bond fluctuations in confined water. It is largely influenced by the long range correlations of orientational fluctuations. All the computations are parameter-free and we compare favorably with results of molecular dynamics simulations and experiments.

44 pages, 14 figures