Observation of a two-stage melting transition in two dimensions
- 1 April 1996
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review E
- Vol. 53 (4), 3794-3803
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.53.3794
Abstract
We have performed hybrid Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics computer simulations to study the melting transition for a two-dimensional material consisting of classical point particles interacting via an repulsive pair potential. As the density increases, the liquid phase develops hexatic structure at values of the pressure that are too low to allow coexistence with a stable crystal possessing an equilibrium concentration of vacancies. Bond orientational order, translational order, and densities are computed for sub-blocks of the total system. Histograms of these quantities remain unimodal throughout the transition region, indicating no tendency for phase separation. Through the use of block analysis techniques, we extract exponents for the bond orientational and translational correlations in the hexatic and the solid that are consistent with the predictions of the Kosterlitz-Thouless-Halperin-Nelson-Young theory. © 1996 The American Physical Society.
Keywords
This publication has 30 references indexed in Scilit:
- Melting in Two-Dimensional Lennard-Jones Systems: Observation of a Metastable Hexatic PhasePhysical Review Letters, 1995
- Melting of two-dimensional colloidal crystals: A simulation study of the Yukawa systemThe Journal of Chemical Physics, 1994
- Size-dependent properties of two-dimensional solidsPhysical Review B, 1989
- Melting in two dimensions: Determination of phase transition boundariesThe Journal of Chemical Physics, 1980
- Phase Transitions in a Two-Dimensional SystemPhysical Review Letters, 1980
- Melting in Two Dimensions is First Order: An Isothermal-Isobaric Monte Carlo StudyPhysical Review Letters, 1980
- Evidence for an Orientationally Ordered Two-Dimensional Fluid Phase from Molecular-Dynamics CalculationsPhysical Review Letters, 1979
- Dislocation-mediated melting in two dimensionsPhysical Review B, 1979
- Melting and the vector Coulomb gas in two dimensionsPhysical Review B, 1979
- Theory of Two-Dimensional MeltingPhysical Review Letters, 1978