CLOSE-PACKED CONFIGURATIONS, SYMMETRY-BREAKING, AND THE FREEZING TRANSITION IN DENSITY-FUNCTIONAL THEORY

It is shown that the density functional theory for the non-uniform har d-sphere fluid, which employs the geometrically based fundamental-meas ure free-energy functional, (1) has the mechanism to locate situations of hard-sphere closest packing, (2) features 'symmetry breaking' that separates the solid-like and liquid-like solutions for the density pr ofile equation, and (3) contains the free-volume cell theory as a spec ial limit case.