TY - JOUR
T1 - Novel low-temperature behavior in classical many-particle systems
AU - Batten, Robert D.
AU - Stillinger, Frank H.
AU - Torquato, Salvatore
PY - 2009/8/6
Y1 - 2009/8/6
N2 - We show that classical many-particle systems interacting with certain soft pair interactions in two dimensions exhibit novel low-temperature behaviors. Ground states span from disordered to crystalline. At some densities, a large fraction of normal-mode frequencies vanish. Lattice ground-state configurations have more vanishing frequencies than disordered ground states at the same density and exhibit vanishing shear moduli. For the melting transition from a crystal, the thermal expansion coefficient is negative. These unusual results are attributed to the topography of the energy landscape.
AB - We show that classical many-particle systems interacting with certain soft pair interactions in two dimensions exhibit novel low-temperature behaviors. Ground states span from disordered to crystalline. At some densities, a large fraction of normal-mode frequencies vanish. Lattice ground-state configurations have more vanishing frequencies than disordered ground states at the same density and exhibit vanishing shear moduli. For the melting transition from a crystal, the thermal expansion coefficient is negative. These unusual results are attributed to the topography of the energy landscape.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=68749098498&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=68749098498&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.050602
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.050602
M3 - Article
C2 - 19792474
AN - SCOPUS:68749098498
SN - 0031-9007
VL - 103
JO - Physical review letters
JF - Physical review letters
IS - 5
M1 - 050602
ER -