Isotropic-nematic phase transition in hard platelets as described by a third-virial theory.

This work discusses a few second- and third-virial (density functional) theory approaches aimed at describing the isotropic-nematic phase transition in three-dimensional freely rotating infinitesimally thin hard discs, the basic model for (colloidal) discotic liquid crystals. Both plain and resummed versions are considered, those resummed being based on a simple yet rather accurate analytic equation of state for the isotropic phase. Extensive Monte Carlo simulations, carried out to locate accurately the phase transition, are used to test the performance of these approaches and guide toward an improved ansatz.