Colloidal particles in emulsions

We propose a statistical mechanical model for colloidal particles suspended in an emulsion of liquid droplets. The particles are modeled as hard spher es. The interaction between droplets is also hard, but the particles are ab le to penetrate the droplets. A swelling of droplets is taken into account to ensure material conservation of the droplet liquid. Hence the presence o f the colloids generates droplet polydispersity. Using computer simulation and liquid state theory, we find that the relative polydispersity exhibits nonmonotonic behavior as a function of the particle packing fraction and ca n be traced back to hard sphere bulk density fluctuations.