Comparing four hard-sphere approximations for the low-temperature WCA melting line.

ABSTRACT

By combining interface-pinning simulations with numerical integration of the Clausius-Clapeyron equation, we accurately determine the melting-line coexistence pressure and fluid/crystal densities of the Weeks-Chandler-Andersen system, covering four decades of temperature. The data are used for comparing the melting-line predictions of the Boltzmann, Andersen-Weeks-Chandler, Barker-Henderson, and Stillinger hard-sphere approximations. The Andersen-Weeks-Chandler and Barker-Henderson theories give the most accurate predictions, and they both work excellently in the zero-temperature limit for which analytical expressions are derived here.