Statistical characterization of the pore space of random systems of hard spheres

An improved statistical characterization of disordered structures such as metallic glasses, random porous media, or granular matter is presented. Suitable structure models follow the idea of dense random packed spheres, where the spheres represent atoms and particles in the case of metallic glasses and porous or granular matter, respectively. The geometry of the empty space between the atoms or particles is described by means of the already otherwise successful concept of so-called contact distributions. Their exact mathematical forms are unknown for hard sphere systems. Knowledge on these is obtained by means of Monte Carlo simulations of the structure models. The numerical results are approximated by simple and general mathematical expressions, with parameters that can be easily determined. These may serve as additional tools for the structural characterization of disordered matter, including systems of partly penetrable spheres.