Vacancy-induced melting of N2 adlayers on graphite.

Abstract

The remarkable melting behavior of partial and complete ${\mathrm{N}}_{2}$ monolayers deposited on graphite is examined using a Monte Carlo procedure in which various concentrations of vacancies are introduced. The calculated melting temperatures and specific heats are in agreement with experiment over the surface density range 0.2\ensuremath{\le}\ensuremath{\rho}\ensuremath{\le}1, where the upper limit is the density of the observed \ensuremath{\surd}3 \ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{} \ensuremath{\surd}3 monolayer structure. Various physical quantities are calculated, and the nature of the transition is discussed.