  Interactions between the components in many-body systems can give rise to
spontaneous formation of complex structures. Usually very little is known about
the connection between the interactions and the resulting structure. Here we
present a theory for self-assembling pattern formation in multi-component
systems, formulated as an analytic technique that predicts morphologies
directly from the interactions in an effective model. As a demonstration we
apply the method to a model of alkanethiols on spherical gold particles,
successfully predicting its morphologies and transitions as a function of the
interaction parameters. This system is interesting because it has been
suggested to provide an effective route to produce patchy colloids.
