Stress anisotropy induced by periodic boundary conditions

Finite size effects due to periodic boundary conditions are investigated using computer simulations in the canonical ensemble. We study liquids with densities corresponding to typical liquid coexistence densities, and temperatures between the triple and critical points. The components of the pressure tensor are computed in order to analyze the finite size effects arising from the size and geometry of the simulation box. Two different box geometries are considered: cubic and parallelepiped. As expected the pressure tensor is isotropic in cubic boxes, but it becomes anisotropic for small noncubic boxes. We argue this is the origin of the anomalous behavior observed recently in the computation of the surface tension of liquid-vapor interfaces. Otherwise, we find that the bulk pressure is sensitive to the box geometry when small simulation boxes are considered. These observations are general and independent of the model liquid considered. We report results for liquids interacting through short range forces, square well and Lennard-Jones, and also long range Coulombic interactions. The effect that small surface areas have on the surface tension is discussed, and some preliminary results at the liquid vapor-interface for the square well potential are given.