CENTRAL-FORCE DECOMPOSITION OF THE TERSOFF POTENTIAL

Abstract

Central forces play important role in the analysis of results obtained with particle simulation methods, since they allow evaluating stress fields. In this work we derive expressions for a central-force decompositon of the Tersoff potential, which is often used to describe interatomic interactions in covalently bonded materials. We simplify the obtained expressions and discuss their properties.

Keywords

• central-force decomposition
• Tersoff potential
• molecular dynamics
• empirical potentials