title: Thermophysical properties of gases, liquids, and solids composed of particles interacting with a short-range attractive potential.
abstract: A short-range polynomial interaction potential is introduced which has both a repulsive core and an attractive part. It is cut off smoothly such that its first and second derivatives vanish at the cutoff distance. The potential therefore enables efficient simulation studies of a model material that exhibits similarities to a full (but computationally expensive) classical Lennard-Jones system. Thermophysical properties of the model are calculated by (nonequilibrium) molecular dynamics computer simulations and compared with analytical results. Among the quantities studied is the pressure as a function of the density for various temperatures. Equations of state for the fluid and the solid are tested. The coexistence of gaseous, (metastable) liquid, and fcc solid phases is found for a range of temperatures. Bulk and shear moduli are computed. The response of the system to a shear deformation with a constant shear rate is analyzed. The liquid shows viscoelastic behavior that can be described with a Maxwell model. The solid behaves as an elastic medium up to a finite deformation and then undergoes a transition to plastic flow, which is stick-slip-like at small shear rates and continuous at higher ones.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Theoretische Physik, Technische Universität Berlin, PN 7-1, Hardenbergstrasse 36, D-10623 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hess
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kröger