1302.2592 (Aleks Reinhardt et al.)

Computing phase diagrams for a quasicrystal-forming patchy-particle
system    [PDF]

Aleks Reinhardt, Flavio Romano, Jonathan P. K. Doye

We introduce an approach to computing the free energy of quasicrystals, which we use to calculate equilibrium phase diagrams for systems of two-dimensional patchy particles with five regularly arranged patches that have previously been shown to form dodecagonal quasicrystals. We find that the quasicrystal is a thermodynamically stable phase for a wide range of conditions and remains a robust feature of the system as the potential's parameters are varied. We also demonstrate that the quasicrystal is entropically stabilised over its crystalline approximants.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1302.2592