Abstract
A molecular-dynamics simulation of liquid arsenic shows good agreement with recent neutron-diffraction data. The coordination number and the average bond length and bond angle are very close to their values in rhombohedral As. This shows that the short-range order in liquid As is very close to that in the crystal. The experiment has been interpreted as representing the first evidence for the existence of a Peierls distortion in a liquid. Our results suggest that the structure could also be interpreted as arising from a modulation of the random packing of atoms by the Friedel oscillations in the effective interatomic interactions.