Melting scenarios of two-dimensional Hertzian spheres with a single triangular lattice

Abstract

We present a molecular dynamics simulation study of the phase diagram and melting scenarios of two-dimensional Hertzian spheres with exponent 7/2. We have found multiple re-entrant melting of a single crystal with a triangular lattice in a wide range of densities from 0.5 to 10.0. Depending on the position on the phase diagram, the triangular crystal has been shown to melt through both two-stage melting with a first-order hexatic–isotropic liquid transition and a continuous solid–hexatic transition as well as in accordance with the Berezinskii–Kosterlitz–Thouless–Halperin–Nelson–Young (BKTHNY) scenario (two continuous transitions with an intermediate hexatic phase). We studied the behavior of heat capacity and have shown that despite two-stage melting, the heat capacity has one peak which seems to correspond to a solid–hexatic transition.