Minimal Energy Clusters of Hard Spheres with Short Range Attractions
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Date
2009
Author(s)
Arkus, Natalie
Publisher
American Physical Society
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Citation
Arkus, Natalie, Vinothan N. Manoharan, Michael P. Brenner. 2009. Minimal energy clusters of hard spheres with short range attractions. Physical Review Letters 103(11): 118303.
Abstract
We calculate the ground states of hard-sphere clusters, in which n identical hard spherical particles bind by isotropic short-ranged attraction. Combining graph theoretic enumeration with basic geometry, we analytically solve for clusters of n9 the degeneracy decreases due to the formation of structures with >3n-6 contacts. Interestingly, for n=10 and possibly at n=11 and n=12, the ground states of this system are subsets of hexagonal close-packed crystals. The ground states are not icosahedra at n=12 and n=13. We relate our results to the structure and thermodynamics of suspensions of colloidal particles with short-ranged attractions.
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