Particle acceleration during classical phase transitions on a spherical lattice.

Area of Science:

• Physics
• Materials Science
• Computational Chemistry

Background:

• Certain lattices exhibit phase transitions under compression, potentially releasing significant nuclear kinetic energy.
• Understanding these transitions is crucial for applications requiring high energy output from condensed matter systems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a computational model for studying Coulomb-coupled N-body systems on a sphere, simulating phase transitions.
• To investigate the dynamics of nuclear kinetic energy gain during simulated phase transitions in a Thomson problem framework.

Main Methods:

• Developed a methodology to model N Boron nuclei as point particles on a sphere, equilibrating via Coulomb scattering with viscous damping.
• Simulated phase transitions by removing Nrm particles, forcing system rearrangement and analysis of new equilibrium states.
• Analyzed the Thomson problem as a dynamical system to explore temperature effects on structural imperfections.

Main Results:

• Established a scaling relation for average peak kinetic energy as a function of N (total particles) and Nrm (removed particles).
• Observed an order of magnitude increase in kinetic energy for specific N values when Nrm increased from 1 to 6.
• Quantified the impact of structural imperfections on energy release in Thomson minima.

Conclusions:

• The developed dynamical model provides a framework for understanding energy release during lattice phase transitions.
• The findings suggest potential for designing lattices that optimize energy output through controlled particle removal.
• This research offers insights into manipulating nuclear kinetic energy via controlled phase transitions.