Order-Disorder Transition in the Solid Phase of a Charged Hard Sphere Model

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Abstract
We investigate the solid phases of the restricted primitive model (RPM). Monte Carlo simulations show the existence of an order-disorder transition from a substitutionally disordered face centered cubic lattice (fcc) to a new ordered fcc structure which is proposed as the ground state of the RPM at the close packing density. Our results suggest that the new phase might turn out in a new triple point in the RPM phase diagram involving three solid phases: CsCl, fcc ordered and fcc disordered structures. The order-disorder transition is also studied using the cell theory. The theory shows good agreement with the simulation results and suggests that the transition is weakly first order.