O ct 1 99 8 The low temperature interface between the gas and solid phases of sticky spheres Richard

At low temperature sticky spheres exist as a close-packed solid coexisting with an infinitely dilute gas. We find that the ratio of the interfacial tension between these two phases to the thermal energy diverges as the sticky limit is taken. The large tensions when the interparticle attractions are short-ranged may be why globular proteins only crystallise over a narrow range of conditions.