Monte Carlo simulation of the OCP freezing transition

Conference · Tue Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1992

OSTI ID:10157252

DeWitt, H E ^[1]; Slattery, W L ^[2]; Yang, Juxing ^[3]

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1. Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)
2. Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)
3. Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA (United States). Dept. of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology

The One Component Plasma (OCP) in three dimensions is a system of classical point charges moving in a fixed uniform neutralizing background. In nature the OCP is a rough approximation of the conditions in a white dwarf star in which one has fully ionized nuclei such as carbon, oxygen, and smaller amounts of heavier elements up to iron all moving in a nearly uniform background provided by relativistically degenerate electrons. The OCP is also a mathematical limiting model for a non-neutral plasma of ions in a Penning trap and cooled to strongly coupled conditions. Similarly, a collection of charge colloidal suspensions in water can exhibit the Coulomb freezing behavior of the OCP. A single dimensionless parameter, {Gamma} is sufficient to describe the system. For very weak coupling, {Gamma} {much_lt} 1, the thermodynamic properties of the OCP are given rigorously by the Debye-Huckel theory. This paper reports on Monte Carlo simulation of the freezing of the OCP from a random start for particle numbers ranging from 500 to 2000. In one case the authors obtained a perfect bcc lattice, but in most cases the final state would be an imperfect crystal or two different microcrystals, fcc and bcc, growing into each other. With a cluster analysis program the authors looked at the formation of nucleating clusters, and followed the actual freezing process. Roughly 80 particles are needed in a cluster before it starts to grow rapidly and freeze.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 10157252
• Report Number(s): UCRL-JC--111904; CONF-9208135--6; ON: DE93013039
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

661300
665000
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
BCC LATTICES
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
ELECTRONS
FCC LATTICES
MONOCRYSTALS
MONTE CARLO METHOD
OTHER ASPECTS OF PHYSICAL SCIENCE
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
PHYSICS OF CONDENSED MATTER
PLASMA
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
WHITE DWARF STARS