Freezing of very asymmetric binary hard-sphere mixtures

The freezing behaviour of a binary hard-sphere mixture with diameter ratio 0.1 is studied within the formalism of the density functional theory (DFT). The stability of a 'sublattice-melt' (SLM) phase, wherein the large spheres are localized on crystal lattice sites and the small ones are fluid-like, is examined. The non-uniform one-particle densities of the small and large spheres in the SLM phase have been calculated. The fluid-solid phase diagram has been drawn.