Equilibrium spherically curved two-dimensional Lennard-Jones systems

To learn about the basic aspects of nanoscale spherical molecular shells during their formation, spherically curved two-dimensional N -particle Lennard-Jones systems are simulated, studying curvature evolution paths at zero temperature. For many N values ( N < 800 ) equilibrium configurations are traced as a function of the curvature radius R . Sharp jumps for tiny changes in R between trajectories with major differences in topological structure correspond to avalanche-like transitions. For a typical case, N = 25 , equilibrium configurations fall on smooth trajectories in state space which can be traced in the E - R plane. The trajectories show up with local energy minima, from which growth in N at steady curvature can develop.