How Close to Two Dimensions Does a Lennard-Jones System Need to Be to Produce a Hexatic Phase?

TL;DR

This study uses computer simulations to explore how a Lennard-Jones liquid confined in a narrow slit can exhibit a hexatic phase, emphasizing the importance of multiple order parameters and near-two-dimensional confinement for its detection.

Contribution

It demonstrates that the hexatic phase in Lennard-Jones systems is only reliably observed under near-two-dimensional conditions and highlights the Binder cumulant as the most effective order parameter.

Findings

Hexatic phase observed only in near-2D confinement.

Binder cumulant is the most reliable indicator.

Multiple order parameters are necessary for confirmation.

Abstract

We report on a computer simulation study of a Lennard-Jones liquid confined in a narrow slit pore with tunable attractive walls. In order to investigate how freezing in this system occurs, we perform an analysis using different order parameters. Although some of the parameters indicate that the system goes through a hexatic phase, other parameters do not. This shows that to be certain whether a system has a hexatic phase, one needs to study not only a large system, but also several order parameters to check all necessary properties. We find that the Binder cumulant is the most reliable one to prove the existence of a hexatic phase. We observe an intermediate hexatic phase only in a monolayer of particles confined such that the fluctuations in the positions perpendicular to the walls are less then 0.15 particle diameters, i. e. if the system is practically perfectly 2d.