NETWORK OF STRONGLY INTERACTING ATOMS IN LIQUID ARGON

An (N, V, T) Monte Carlo simulation of liquid argon has been carried o ut in order to study the distribution of clusters formed by the relati vely strongly interacting atoms. A set of configurations has been sele cted for the analysis of connectivity properties. Energetic criterion has been used for the definition of the bond between two atoms. Two at oms were considered to be bonded if their pair interaction energy was deeper than a prefixed value. Varying the value of this limiting energ y a bond percolation threshold, at which initially disconnected cluste rs suddenly transformed to a large space-filling network of connected atoms, was observed. The limiting energy corresponding to this thresho ld is not far from the minimum value of the pair interaction energy. T he similar behavior of connectivity properties in liquid argon to that of water shows that gel formation may take place without orientationa l forces.