A liquid-solid critical point in a simple monatomic system

Abstract

It is commonly believed that the transition line separating a liquid and a solid cannot be interrupted by a critical point. This opinion is based on the traditional symmetry argument that an isotropic liquid cannot be continuously transformed into a crystal with a discrete rotational and translational symmetry. We present here a molecular-dynamics simulation of a simple monatomic system that demonstrates a liquid-solid spinodal terminating at a critical point. We show that, in the critical region, the isotropic liquid continuously transforms into a phase with a mesoscopic order similar to that of the smectic liquid crystals. We argue that the existence of both the spinodal and the critical point can be explained by the close structural proximity between the mesophase and the crystal. This indicates a possibility of finding a similar thermodynamic behaviour in gelating colloids, liquid crystals and polymers.