Study of the high-pressure helium phase diagram using molecular dynamics

• The rich occurrence of helium and hydrogen in space makes their properties highly interesting. By means of molecular dynamics ( MD), we have examined two interatomic potentials for He-4. Both potentials are demonstrated to reproduce high-pressure solid and liquid equation of state (EOS) data. The EOS, solid - solid transitions and melting at high pressures ( P) were studied using a two-phase method. The Buckingham potential shows a good agreement with theoretical and experimental EOS, but does not reproduce experimental melting data. The Aziz potential shows a perfect match with theoretical melting data. We conclude that there is a stable body-centred-cubic (bcc) phase for He-4 at temperatures ( T) above 340 K and pressures above 22 GPa for the Buckingham potential, whereas no bcc phase is found for the Aziz potential in the applied PT range.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences (hsv//eng)

Keyword

generalized-gradient approximation

x-ray-diffraction

equation-of-state

melting curve

solid he-4

density

quasi

iron

Physics

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)