FREEZING OF SYSTEMS INTERACTING THROUGH INVERSE-4TH-POWER POTENTIALS

The liquid-bcc and bcc-fcc transitions for systems interacting through the inverse-fourth-power potential have been investigated using a density-functional approach similar to that introduced by Curtin and Ashcroft [Phys. Rev. Lett. 56, 2775 (1986)] for Lennard-Jones fluids. We show that, in contrast to the direct application of weighted-density-functional theories reported recently, the present approach predicts a stable bcc phase close to melting as well as a bcc-fcc transition at lower temperatures, as suggested by computer simulations.