2005/11/10 by M. C. Abramo, Maria C. Abramo, C. Caccamo +8
Chemistry · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Physical and Chemical Molecular Interactions #FOS: Physical sciences #Fullerene Chemistry and Applications #Material Dynamics and Properties #Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft) #cond-mat.soft
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.cond-mat/0511261
14 pages, 9 figures, RevTeX, submitted to J. Phys. Chem. B
arxiv created 2005/11/10 · openalex publication_date 2005/11/10 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2022/10/03 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Extensive molecular dynamics simulations show that a short-range central potential, suited to model C60, undergoes a high temperature transition to a glassy phase characterized by the positional disorder of the constituent particles. Crystallization, melting and sublimation, which also take place during the simulation runs, are illustrated in detail. It turns out that vitrification and the mentioned phase transitions occur when the packing fraction of the system - defined in terms of an effective hard-core diameter - equals that of hard spheres at their own glass and melting transition, respectively. A close analogy also emerges between our findings and recent mode coupling theory calculations of structural arrest lines in a similar model of protein solutions. We argue that the conclusions of the present study might hold for a wide class of potentials currently employed to mimic interactions in complex fluids (some of which of biological interest), suggesting how to achieve at least qualitative predictions of vitrification and crystallization in those systems.