The intrinsic structure of liquid interfaces

Thermal capillary waves develop spontaneously at fluid/fluid interfaces, and modulate their shapes on scales much larger than the molecular one, thus smearing any density profile measured or calculated using only a global coordinate system\footnote{E. Chacon and P. Tarazona, Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 166103 (2003)}. In this contribution we present a local picture of several thermodynamic quantities (density, energy, free energy, surface tension) at liquid/vapour interfaces, analyzing them both on a molecular layer-by-layer basis\footnote{M. Sega, B. Fabian and P. Jedlovszky, J. Chem. Phys. 143, 114709 (2015)}, and as a function of the intrinsic distance from the interface\footnote{L. B. Partay, G. Hantal, P. Jedlovszky, A. Vincze, and G. Horvai, J. Comput. Chem. 29, 945 (2008).}, revealing their true, intrinsic structure.