Physical cluster mechanics: Statics and energy surfaces for monatomic systems

Abstract The potential energy surfaces for clusters of some three to sixty atoms under Lennard-Jones forces have been systematically explored using numerical optimization techniques. In searching for minimum-energy configurations three particularly compact non-lattice growth schemes emerge showing tetrahedral, pentagonal (D5 h ) and icosahedral symmetry respectively. All these systems were found to be appreciably more stable than microcrystallites based on the face-centred cubic structure while certain lattice elements were shown to be metastable for small numbers of atoms. Some qualitative conclusions are then drawn concerning the occurrence of saddle-points for delocalized motion and the contribution of these to the generation of configurational entropy in small clusters. A crucial feature of the energy surfaces examined is the breakdown of strict local symmetry in compact clusters of more than two ‘shells’ of atoms and the possibility of delocalized motion of surface atoms around a solid-like core. These and other qualitative thresholds are pointed out as possible manifestations of entropy which could contribute to the existence of a ‘critical nucleus’ for discrete clusters with a role similar to that played in liquid-drop theories.