%0 Journal Article
%T Crystallization of a classical two-dimensional electron system: Positional and orientational orders
%A Satoru Muto
%A Hideo Aoki
%J Physics
%D 1999
%I arXiv
%R 10.1103/PhysRevB.59.14911
%X Crystallization of a classical two-dimensional one-component plasma (electrons interacting with the Coulomb repulsion in a uniform neutralizing positive background) is investigated with a molecular dynamics simulation. The positional and the orientational correlation functions are calculated for the first time. We have found an indication that the solid phase has a quasi-long-range (power-law) positional order along with a long-range orientational order. This indicates that, although the long-range Coulomb interaction is outside the scope of Mermin's theorem, the absence of ordinary crystalline order at finite temperatures applies to the electron system as well. The `hexatic' phase, which is predicted between the liquid and the solid phases by the Kosterlitz-Thouless-Halperin-Nelson-Young theory, is also discussed.
%U http://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/9902322v4