Fluid - solid transition in simple systems using density functional theory

Abstract: A free energy functional for a crystal proposed by Singh and Singh (Europhysics Letters \textbf{88}, 16005 (2009)) which contains both the symmetry-conserved and symmetry-broken parts of the direct pair correlation function has been used to investigate the fluid-solid transition in systems interacting via purely repulsive WCA Lennard - Jones (RLJ) potential and the full Lennard - Jones (LJ) potential. The results found for freezing parameters for the fluid - face centred cubic (fcc) crystal transition are in very good agreement with simulation results. It is shown that although the contribution made by the symmetry broken part to the grand thermodynamic potential at the freezing point is small compared to that of the symmetry conserving part, its role is crucial in stabilizing the crystalline structure and on values of freezing parameters. The effect of attractive part of the LJ potential on the freezing parameters is found to be small, confirming the view that the fluid - solid transition is primarily determined by the repulsive part of the potential.