Computer simulation of alkaline earth halides

Abstract

The methods of molecular dynamics has been used to investigate the behaviour of transverse and longitudinal current-current autocorrelation functions in a model liquid simulating molten strontium chloride. Examples of the spectra of these functions are given and it is shown that the liquid propagates shear waves in a manner not unlike transverse phonons in crystals. The spectra of the mass and charge density, related to the spectra of the longitudinal currents, were computed. In both cases a non-central peak indicative of propagating acoustic and optic-type modes was observed for small wavenumbers, the optic-type mode persisting for larger wavenumbers than the acoustic-type modes. The possibility of observing these modes in inelastic neutron scattering experiments is discussed briefly.