How can one find the minimum total energy of an infinite number of particles? A proof showing that, for certain interactions, periodic ‘ground states’ exist provides a new perspective on this, one of the oldest questions in physics.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Sütő, A. Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 265501 (2005).
Pierleoni, C., Addison, C., Hansen, J. -P. & Krakoviack, V. Phys. Rev. Lett. (in the press); preprint available at http://www.arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0601417 (2006).
Krüger, B., Schäfer, L. & Baumgärtner, A. J. Phys. (Paris) 50, 3191 (1989).
Louis, A. A., Bolhuis, P. G., Hansen, J. -P. & Meijer, E. J. Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 2522–2525 (2000).
Stillinger, F. H. J. Chem. Phys. 65, 3968–3974 (1976).
Stillinger, F. H. Phys. Rev. B 20, 299–302 (1979).
Mladek, B. M., Gottwald, D., Kahl, G., Neumann, M. & Likos, C. N. Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 045701 (2006).
Ashcroft, N. W. & Mermin, N. D. Solid State Physics (Holt Saunders, Philadelphia, 1976).
Ziman, J. M. Principles of the Theory of Solids (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1972).
Hafner, J. From Hamiltonians to Phase Diagrams (Springer, Berlin, 1987).
Alexander, S. & McTague, J. Phys. Rev. Lett. 41, 702–705 (1978).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Likos, C. Going to ground. Nature 440, 433–434 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/440433a
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/440433a
This article is cited by
-
Exotic Ground States of Directional Pair Potentials via Collective-Density Variables
Journal of Statistical Physics (2013)
-
Ground State at High Density
Communications in Mathematical Physics (2011)
