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We use grand canonical transition-matrix Monte Carlo and discontinuousmolecular dynamics simulations to generate precise thermodynamic and kineticdata for the equilibrium hard-sphere fluid confined between smooth hard walls.These simulations show that the pronounced inhomogeneous structuring of thefluid normal to the confining walls, often the primary focus of densityfunctional theory studies, has a negligible effect on many of its averageproperties over a surprisingly broad range of conditions. We present oneconsequence of this insensitivity to confinement: a simple analytical equationrelating the average density of the confined fluid to that of the bulk fluidwith equal activity. Nontrivial implications of confinement for average fluidproperties do emerge in this system, but only when the fluid is both (i) denseand (ii) confined to a gap smaller than approximately three particle diameters.For this limited set of conditions, we find that "in-phase" oscillatorydeviations in excess entropy and self-diffusivity (relative to the behavior ofthe bulk fluid at the same average density) occur as a function of gap size.These paired thermodynamic/kinetic deviations from bulk behavior appear toreflect the geometric packing frustration that arises when the confined spacecannot naturally accommodate an integer number of particle layers.

Does confining the hard-sphere fluid between hard walls change its average properties?