ABSTRACT
The basic principles of self-organization of one-component charged particles, confined in disk and circular parabolic potentials, are proposed. A system of equations is derived, which allows us to determine equilibrium configurations for an arbitrary, but finite, number of charged particles that are distributed over several rings. Our approach reduces significantly the computational effort in minimizing the energy of equilibrium configurations and demonstrates a remarkable agreement with the values provided by molecular dynamics calculations. With the increase of particle number n>180 we find a steady formation of a centered hexagonal lattice that smoothly transforms to valence circular rings in the ground-state configurations for both potentials.
ABSTRACT
We demonstrate that our model [Phys. Rev. E 91, 032312 (2015)PLEEE81539-375510.1103/PhysRevE.91.032312] serves as a useful tool to trace the evolution of equilibrium configurations of one-component charged particles confined in a disk. Our approach reduces significantly the computational effort in minimizing the energy of equilibrium configurations, and it demonstrates a remarkable agreement with the values provided by molecular-dynamics calculations. We show that the Comment misrepresents our paper and fails to provide plausible arguments against the formation hexagonal structure for n≥200 in molecular-dynamics calculations.
ABSTRACT
We discuss the basic principles of self-organization of a finite number of charged particles interacting via the 1/r Coulomb potential in disk geometry. The analysis is based on the cyclic symmetry and periodicity of the Coulomb interaction between particles located on several rings. As a result, a system of equations is derived, which allows us readily to determine with high accuracy the equilibrium configurations of a few hundred charged particles. For nâ³200, we predict the formation of a hexagonal core and valence circular rings for the centered configurations.
