Cluster self-assembly condition for arbitrary interaction potentials

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Mendoza-Coto, Alejandro, Cenci, Rómulo, Pupillo, Guido, Díaz-Méndez, Rogelio, Babaev, Egor
Format: Preprint
Published: 2020
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author Mendoza-Coto, Alejandro
Cenci, Rómulo
Pupillo, Guido
Díaz-Méndez, Rogelio
Babaev, Egor
author_facet Mendoza-Coto, Alejandro
Cenci, Rómulo
Pupillo, Guido
Díaz-Méndez, Rogelio
Babaev, Egor
contents We present a sufficient criterion for the emergence of cluster phases in an ensemble of interacting classical particles with repulsive two-body interactions. Through a zero-temperature analysis in the low density region we determine the relevant characteristics of the interaction potential that make the energy of a two-particle cluster-crystal become smaller than that of a simple triangular lattice in two dimensions. The method leads to a mathematical condition for the emergence of cluster crystals in terms of the sum of Fourier components of a regularized interaction potential, which can be in principle applied to any arbitrary shape of interactions. We apply the formalism to several examples of bounded and unbounded potentials with and without cluster-forming ability. In all cases, the emergence of self-assembled cluster crystals is well captured by the presented analytic criterion and verified with known results from molecular dynamics simulations at vanishingly temperatures. Our work generalises known results for bounded potentials to repulsive potentials of arbitrary shape.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2010_04631
institution arXiv
publishDate 2020
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Cluster self-assembly condition for arbitrary interaction potentials
Mendoza-Coto, Alejandro
Cenci, Rómulo
Pupillo, Guido
Díaz-Méndez, Rogelio
Babaev, Egor
Soft Condensed Matter
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
We present a sufficient criterion for the emergence of cluster phases in an ensemble of interacting classical particles with repulsive two-body interactions. Through a zero-temperature analysis in the low density region we determine the relevant characteristics of the interaction potential that make the energy of a two-particle cluster-crystal become smaller than that of a simple triangular lattice in two dimensions. The method leads to a mathematical condition for the emergence of cluster crystals in terms of the sum of Fourier components of a regularized interaction potential, which can be in principle applied to any arbitrary shape of interactions. We apply the formalism to several examples of bounded and unbounded potentials with and without cluster-forming ability. In all cases, the emergence of self-assembled cluster crystals is well captured by the presented analytic criterion and verified with known results from molecular dynamics simulations at vanishingly temperatures. Our work generalises known results for bounded potentials to repulsive potentials of arbitrary shape.
title Cluster self-assembly condition for arbitrary interaction potentials
topic Soft Condensed Matter
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2010.04631