Lennard-Jones model

The Lennard-Jones intermolecular pair potential was developed by Sir John Edward Lennard-Jones in 1931 (Ref. 1).

Functional form

The Lennard-Jones potential is given by:

$\Phi (r)=4\epsilon \left[\left({\frac {\sigma }{r}}\right)^{12}-\left({\frac {\sigma }{r}}\right)^{6}\right]$

where:

• $\Phi (r)$ is the intermolecular pair potential between two particles at a distance r;

• $\sigma$ is the diameter (length), i.e. the value of $r$ at $\Phi (r)=0$ ;

• $\epsilon$ : well depth (energy)

Reduced units:

• Density, $\rho ^{*}\equiv \rho \sigma ^{3}$, where $\rho =N/V$ (number of particles $N$ divided by the volume $V$.)

• Temperature; $T^{*}\equiv k_{B}T/\epsilon$, where $T$ is the absolute temperature and $k_{B}$ is the Boltzmann constant

The following is a plot of the Lennard-Jones model for the parameters $\epsilon /k_{B}\approx$ 120 K and $\sigma \approx$ 0.34 nm. See also argon for appropriate parameter sets.

This figure was produced using gnuplot with the command:

plot (4*120*((0.34/x)**12-(0.34/x)**6))

Features

Special points:

• $\Phi (\sigma )=0$
• Minimum value of $\Phi (r)$ at $r=r_{min}$;

${\frac {r_{min}}{\sigma }}=2^{1/6}\simeq 1.12246...$

Critical point

The location of the critical point is (Caillol (Ref. 2))

$T_{c}^{*}=1.326\pm 0.002$

at a reduced density of

$\rho _{c}^{*}=0.316\pm 0.002$.

Triple point

The location of the triple point as found by Mastny and de Pablo (Ref. 3) is

$T_{tp}^{*}=0.694$

Approximations in simulation: truncation and shifting

The Lennard-Jones model is often used with a cutoff radius of $2.5\sigma$. See Mastny and de Pablo (Ref. 3) for an analysis of the effect of this cutoff on the melting line.

m-n Lennard-Jones potential

It is relatively common to encounter potential functions given by:

$\Phi (r)=c_{m,n}\epsilon \left[\left({\frac {\sigma }{r}}\right)^{m}-\left({\frac {\sigma }{r}}\right)^{n}\right].$

with $m$ and $n$ being positive integers and $m>n$. $c_{m,n}$ is chosen such that the minimum value of $\Phi (r)$ being $\Phi _{min}=-\epsilon$. Such forms are usually referred to as m-n Lennard-Jones Potential. For example, the 9-3 Lennard-Jones interaction potential is often used to model the interaction between the atoms/molecules of a fluid and a continuous solid wall. On the '9-3 Lennard-Jones potential' page a justification of this use is presented.

Radial distribution function

The radial distribution function of the Lennard-Jones model

1. John G. Kirkwood, Victor A. Lewinson, and Berni J. Alder "Radial Distribution Functions and the Equation of State of Fluids Composed of Molecules Interacting According to the Lennard-Jones Potential", Journal of Chemical Physics 20 pp. 929- (1952)

Related pages

• Phase diagram of the Lennard-Jones model
• Lennard-Jones model: virial coefficients
• Lennard-Jones equation of state
• Lennard-Jones sticks
• Lennard-Jones disks
• 9-3 Lennard-Jones potential

References

1. J. E. Lennard-Jones, "Cohesion", Proceedings of the Physical Society, 43 pp. 461-482 (1931)
2. J. M. Caillol " Critical-point of the Lennard-Jones fluid: A finite-size scaling study", Journal of Chemical Physics 109 pp. 4885-4893 (1998)
3. Ethan A. Mastny and Juan J. de Pablo "Melting line of the Lennard-Jones system, infinite size, and full potential", Journal of Chemical Physics 127 104504 (2007)