title: On the determination of phase boundaries via thermodynamic integration across coexistence regions.
abstract: Specialized Monte Carlo methods are nowadays routinely employed, in combination with thermodynamic integration (TI), to locate phase boundaries of classical many-particle systems. This is especially useful for the fluid-solid transition, where a critical point does not exist and both phases may notoriously go deeply metastable. Using the Lennard-Jones model for demonstration, we hereby investigate on the alternate possibility of tracing reasonably accurate transition lines directly by integrating the pressure equation of state computed in a canonical-ensemble simulation with local moves. The recourse to this method would become a necessity when the stable crystal structure is not known. We show that, rather counterintuitively, metastability problems can be alleviated by reducing (rather than increasing) the size of the system. In particular, the location of liquid-vapor coexistence can exactly be predicted by just TI. On the contrary, TI badly fails in the solid-liquid region, where a better assessment (to within 10% accuracy) of the coexistence pressure can be made by following the expansion, until melting, of the defective solid which has previously emerged from the decay of the metastable liquid.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica e di Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Messina, Contrada Papardo, I-98166 Messina, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Concetta
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Abramo
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica e di Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Messina, Contrada Papardo, I-98166 Messina, Italy.
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Caccamo
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica e di Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Messina, Contrada Papardo, I-98166 Messina, Italy.
authors.forename: Dino
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica e di Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Messina, Contrada Papardo, I-98166 Messina, Italy.
authors.forename: Paolo V
authors.initials: PV
authors.lastname: Giaquinta
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica e di Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Messina, Contrada Papardo, I-98166 Messina, Italy.
authors.forename: Gianpietro
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Malescio
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica e di Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Messina, Contrada Papardo, I-98166 Messina, Italy.
authors.forename: Gianmarco
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Munaò
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica e di Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Messina, Contrada Papardo, I-98166 Messina, Italy.
authors.forename: Santi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Prestipino