Phase Transition for a Hard Sphere System

Key Points

• Investigate whether a classical system of idealized hard spheres undergoes a thermodynamic phase transition between fluid and solid states in the absence of attractive interactions.
• Numerical simulation and statistical mechanical modeling of rigid hard spheres in a closed volume.
• Evaluation of thermodynamic pressure and molecular configurations across varying packing densities.
• Identification of a clear first-order transition separating disordered fluid configurations from ordered crystalline arrangements.
• Demonstration that repulsive excluded volume forces alone drive spontaneous spatial crystallization.