Molecular Dynamics Simulation for the Formation of Magic-Number Clusters with a Lennard-Jones Potential

Abstract

The formation of clusters from a gas state of particles interacting with a Lennard-Jones potential was simulated by a large-scale molecular dynamics calculation with a new temperature-control scheme. Decreasing the translational temperature of atoms and clusters followed by a long-term evaporation produced several peaks in a cluster-size distribution. The peak positions obtained correspond to sizes 13, 19, 23, and 26, which are the magic numbers expected from polyicosahedra.