In pursuit of the tetratic phase in hard rectangles
arXiv:2408.06889 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevResearch.7.L012034
Abstract
We numerically investigate two-dimensional systems of hard rectangles at constant pressure through extensive hard-particle Monte Carlo simulations. We determine the complete phase diagram as a function of packing fraction and aspect ratio, which consists of four distinct phases. At very high packing fractions, particles form a smectic solid for all aspect ratios. Rod-like particles with large aspect ratio assemble in an intervening nematic phase, which is displaced by a "tetratic" phase (also called biaxial nematic) for moderately elongated rectangles. Surprisingly, we find evidence that the transition from tetratic to smectic is weakly discontinuous at variance with previously proposed two-step scenarios for the melting of hard particles.
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