Nonequilibrium assembly of Lennard-Jones particles on a sphere

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Golushko, Ivan Yu., Konevtsova, Olga V., Roshal, Daria S., Rochal, Sergei B.
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2026
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author Golushko, Ivan Yu.
Konevtsova, Olga V.
Roshal, Daria S.
Rochal, Sergei B.
author_facet Golushko, Ivan Yu.
Konevtsova, Olga V.
Roshal, Daria S.
Rochal, Sergei B.
contents Studying physical mechanisms and common geometric principles underlying known spherical packings is crucial for rational design of synthetic nanocontainers. Here we model the growth of small spherical shells containing n<72 identical particles that have their own curvature and interact with each other via the Lennard-Jones potential. The shell assembly is assumed to be nonequilibrium and sequential: at each step, a new particle is attached to the most energetically favorable position, after which the system relaxes. Along with well-known structures of the smallest icosahedral viral protein shells, the proposed mechanism generates a wide range of shells exhibiting square-triangular surface order. Most of such shells are the models of synthetic or natural protein complexes that have octahedral or tetrahedral symmetries and perform various functions. We compare the obtained structures with those resulting from the equilibrium assembly and corresponding to global energy minima. Also, we consider the temperature-dependent stochastic assembly and use the double-minimum Lennard-Jones-Gauss potential to mimic anisotropic particle interactions.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_12360
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Nonequilibrium assembly of Lennard-Jones particles on a sphere
Golushko, Ivan Yu.
Konevtsova, Olga V.
Roshal, Daria S.
Rochal, Sergei B.
Soft Condensed Matter
Studying physical mechanisms and common geometric principles underlying known spherical packings is crucial for rational design of synthetic nanocontainers. Here we model the growth of small spherical shells containing n<72 identical particles that have their own curvature and interact with each other via the Lennard-Jones potential. The shell assembly is assumed to be nonequilibrium and sequential: at each step, a new particle is attached to the most energetically favorable position, after which the system relaxes. Along with well-known structures of the smallest icosahedral viral protein shells, the proposed mechanism generates a wide range of shells exhibiting square-triangular surface order. Most of such shells are the models of synthetic or natural protein complexes that have octahedral or tetrahedral symmetries and perform various functions. We compare the obtained structures with those resulting from the equilibrium assembly and corresponding to global energy minima. Also, we consider the temperature-dependent stochastic assembly and use the double-minimum Lennard-Jones-Gauss potential to mimic anisotropic particle interactions.
title Nonequilibrium assembly of Lennard-Jones particles on a sphere
topic Soft Condensed Matter
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.12360