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Phase diagram and structural diversity of the densest binary sphere packings
Adam B Hopkins1, Yang Jiao, Frank H Stillinger
1Department of Chemistry, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA.
Abstract:
The densest binary sphere packings have historically been very difficult to determine. The only rigorously known packings in the α-x plane of sphere radius ratio α and relative concentration x are at the Kepler limit α=1, where packings are monodisperse. Utilizing an implementation of the Torquato-Jiao sphere-packing algorithm [S. Torquato and Y. Jiao, Phys. Rev. E 82, 061302 (2010)], we present the most comprehensive determination to date of the phase diagram in (α,x) for the densest binary sphere packings. Unexpectedly, we find many distinct new densest packings.
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