Calculation of melting point of gold by free energy calculations

CHED 1371

Sandra M. King, kingsand@grinnell.edu1, Vadim B. Warshavsky2, and Xueyu Song, xsong@iastate.edu2. (1) Department of Chemistry, Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA 50112, (2) Department of Chemistry, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011
A perturbation theory with a hard-sphere reference system is used to directly calculate the free energies of hard-sphere liquid and solid phases of gold and the Lennard-Jones system. Unlike other approaches, no simulations are required and the free energies of the two different phases are calculated in a single approach. The Lennard-Jones liquid-solid coexistence results are in good agreement with ones from simulations. Thermodynamic equilibrium conditions allowed for an accurate calculation of the melting point of gold.