Equilibrium Spherically Curved 2d Lennard-jones Systems

To learn about basic aspects of nano-scale spherical molecular shells during their formation, spherically curved two-dimensional N-particle Lennard-Jones systems are simulated, studying curvature evolution paths at zero-temperature. For many N-values (N < 800) equilibrium configurations are traced as a function of the curvature radius R. Sharp jumps for tiny changes in R between trajectories with major differences in topo-logical structure correspond to avalanche-like transitions. For a typical case, N = 25, equilibrium configurations fall on smooth trajectories in state space which can be traced in the E − R plane. The trajectories show-up with local energy minima, from which growth in N at steady curvature can develop.