Dipolar fluids under external perturbations

We discuss recent developments and present new findings on the structural and phase properties of dipolar model fluids influenced by various external perturbations. We concentrate on systems of spherical particles with permanent (point) dipole moments. Starting from what is known about the three-dimensional systems, particular emphasis is given to dipolar fluids in different confining situations involving both simple and complex (disordered) pore geometries. Further topics concern the effect of quenched positional disorder, the influence of external (electric or magnetic) fields, and the fluid–fluid phase behaviour of various dipolar mixtures. It is demonstrated that due to the translational–orientational coupling and due to the long range of dipolar interactions even simple perturbations such as hard walls can have a profound impact on the systems.