Molecular dynamics study of a classical two-dimensional electron system: positional and orientational orders

Molecular dynamics simulation is used to investigate the crystallization of a classical two-dimensional electron system, in which electrons interact with the Coulomb repulsion. From the positional and the orientational correlation functions, we have found an indication that the solid phase has a quasi-long-range (power-law correlated) positional order and a long-range orientational order. This implies that the long-range 1/r system shares the absence of the true long-range crystalline order at finite temperatures with short-range ones to which Mermin's theorem applies. We also discuss the existence of the "hexatic" phase predicted by the Kosterlitz-Thouless-Halperin-Nelson-Young theory. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.