Molecular Dynamics Study of Small-Size Argon Clusters : Effects of Three-Body Interaction on Structure, Dynamics and Phase Transition

Abstract

Molecular dynamics simulations have been carried out for small-size argon clusters. The number of molecules in the clusters is between 12 and 20. In order to study rather dense structures of clusters at lower temperatures, effects of the Axilrod-Teller type three-body interaction on the structure and dynamics of the clusters have been examined in detail. In addition to conventional MD calculations, we have performed quenching of clusters to obtain some inherent structures of the clusters. We have further carried out normal mode analysis and discussed the origin of the appearance of “magic number” clusters. It is found that the three-body effect does exist in various properties but they are not large as to alter our qualitative picture and the cluster size dependence.