Critical Casimir forces and colloidal aggregation: A numerical study

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We present a numerical study of the effective potential Vₑff between two hard-sphere colloids dispersed in a solvent of interacting particles, for several values of temperature and solvent density, approaching the solvent gas-liquid critical point. We investigate the stability of a system of particles interacting via Vₑff to evaluate the locus of colloidal aggregation in the solvent phase-diagram, and its dependence on the colloid size. We assess how the excluded volume depletion forces are modified by solvent attraction and discuss under which conditions solvent critical fluctuations, in the form of critical Casimir forces, can be used to effectively manipulate colloidal aggregation.