2023/07/18 by Prashanti Jami, Jami, Prashanti, Pinaki Chaudhuri +5
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Complex Network Analysis Techniques #Disordered Systems and Neural Networks (cond-mat.dis-nn) #FOS: Physical sciences #Material Dynamics and Properties #Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft) #Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech) #Theoretical and Computational Physics
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2307.09327
openalex publication_date 2023/07/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We study melting in a two-dimensional system of classical particles with Gaussian-core interactions in disordered environments. The pure system validates the conventional two-step melting with a hexatic phase intervening between the solid and the liquid. This picture is modified in the presence of pinning impurities. A random distribution of pinning centers forces a hexatic-like low temperature phase that transits into a liquid at a single melting temperature T\rm RP\rm m. In contrast, pinning centers located at randomly chosen sites of a perfect crystal anchors a solid at low temperatures which undergoes a direct transition to the liquid at T\rm CP\rm m. Thus, the two-step melting is lost in either cases of disorder. We discuss the characteristics of melting depending on the nature of the impurities.