Minimal energy clusters of hard spheres with short range attractions

Phys Rev Lett. 2009 Sep 11;103(11):118303. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.118303. Epub 2009 Sep 11.

Abstract

We calculate the ground states of hard-sphere clusters, in which n identical hard spherical particles bind by isotropic short-ranged attraction. Combining graph theoretic enumeration with basic geometry, we analytically solve for clusters of n<or=10 particles satisfying minimal rigidity constraints. For n<or=9 the ground state degeneracy increases exponentially with n, but for n>9 the degeneracy decreases due to the formation of structures with >3n-6 contacts. Interestingly, for n=10 and possibly at n=11 and n=12, the ground states of this system are subsets of hexagonal close-packed crystals. The ground states are not icosahedra at n=12 and n=13. We relate our results to the structure and thermodynamics of suspensions of colloidal particles with short-ranged attractions.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Colloids / chemistry*
  • Models, Chemical
  • Models, Theoretical*
  • Thermodynamics

Substances

  • Colloids