Monte-Carlo rejection as a tool for measuring the energy landscape scaling of simple fluids

TL;DR

This paper introduces a modified Monte-Carlo method to analyze the energy landscape of simple fluids, revealing power-law scaling and topological influences on phase transitions like freezing.

Contribution

It presents a novel Monte-Carlo approach for exploring energy landscape topography and scaling in simple fluids, linking topology to phase behavior.

Findings

Power-law scaling of energy landscape boundary observed

A characteristic scale separates different scaling exponents

Topology influences the freezing transition of the fluid

Abstract

A simple modification of the Monte-Carlo algortihm is proposed to explore the topography and the scaling of the energy landscape. We apply this idea to a simple hard-core fluid. The results for different packing fractions show a power law scaling of the landscape boundary, with a characteristic scale that separates the values of the scaling exponents. Finally, it is shown how the topology determines the freezing point of the system due to the increasing importance and complexity of the boundary.