The pressure tensor of an inhomogeneous fluid

Abstract

The pressure tensor of an inhomogeneous fluid is important for understanding the nature of surface tension and its relationship to curvature. The pressure tensor depends on the specification of certain path integrals so that several forms are of interest each differing in the path along which the integrals are computed. We report the transformation of the Irving-Kirkwood pressure tensor in spherical geometries. The purpose of these transformations is to obtain forms suitable for application in computer simulations. This paper is a formulation of the Tsai method in terms of the Schofield and Henderson contour integral expression for the pressure tensor.