Geometrical characterization of hard-sphere systems.
By using molecular dynamics simulations on a large number of hard spheres and the Voronoï tessellation we characterize hard-sphere systems geometrically at any packing fraction eta along the different branches of the phase diagram. Crystallization of disordered packings occurs only for a small range of packing fraction. For the other packing fractions the system behaves as either a fluid (stable or metastable) or a glass. We have studied the evolution of the statistics of the Voronoï tessellation during crystallization and characterized the apparition of order by an order parameter (Q(6)) built from spherical harmonics.
Richard
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P
Groupe Matière Condensée et Matériaux, UMR CNRS 6626, Université de Rennes I, 35042 Rennes Cedex, France.
Oger
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L
Troadec
J P
JP
Gervois
A
A