Experimental magnetization curves for a polydisperse ferrofluid at various concentrations are examined using analytical theories and computer simulations with the aim of establishing a robust method for obtaining the magnetic-core diameter distribution function p(x). Theoretical expressions are fitted to the experimental data to yield the parameters of p(x). It is shown that the majority of available theories yield results that depend strongly on the ferrofluid concentration, even though the magnetic composition should be fixed. The sole exception is the second-order modified mean-field (MMF2) theory of Ivanov and Kuznetsova [Phys. Rev. E 64, 041405 (2001)] which yields consistent results over the full experimental range of ferrofluid concentration. To check for consistency, extensive molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations are performed on systems with discretized versions of p(x) corresponding as closely as possible to that of the real ferrofluid. Essentially perfect agreement between experiment, theory, and computer simulation is demonstrated. In addition, the MMF2 theory provides excellent predictions for the initial susceptibility measured in simulations.

We present a generalized version of the ITIM algorithm for the identification of interfacial molecules, which is able to treat arbitrarily shaped interfaces. The algorithm exploits the similarities between the concept of probe sphere used in ITIM and the circumsphere criterion used in the α-shapes approach, and can be regarded either as a reference-frame independent version of the former, or as an extended version of the latter that includes the atomic excluded volume. The new algorithm is applied to compute the intrinsic orientational order parameters of water around a dodecylphosphocholine and a cholic acid micelle in aqueous environment, and to the identification of solvent-reachable sites in four model structures for soot. The additional algorithm introduced for the calculation of intrinsic density profiles in arbitrary geometries proved to be extremely useful also for planar interfaces, as it allows to solve the paradox of smeared intrinsic profiles far from the interface.