Nature Communications (Apr 2019)

A universal state and its relaxation mechanisms of long-range interacting polygons

  • Hongchuan Shen,
  • Hua Tong,
  • Peng Tan,
  • Lei Xu

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-09795-6
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 1
pp. 1 – 8

Abstract

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Space packing is not only of scientific interests, but also relevant to our daily life. Here, Shen et al. show that the interaction beyond the nearest neighbors leads to the formation of a universal structure, namely hexagonal plastic crystal, which is insensitive to the shape of building blocks.