Hexatic phase in two-dimensional Yukawa systems: Existence and properties

Abstract

In present work, phase transitions in strongly-coupled two-dimensional dissipative Yukawa systems are studied. The thermodynamic characteristics of these systems are calculated, namely the internal energy, the specific heat and the entropy. The considered characteristics have two singular points; one of these points corresponds to the first-order phase transition from crystal to the hexatic phase, and another point corresponds to the second-order phase transition from the hexatic phase to the isotropic liquid. The dependence of the position of the melting lines and the range of existence of the hexatic phase on the concentration of the grains in the considered system is studied. The special attention is paid to the comparison of our results to the existing numerical and analytical data.