Clustering of Defects and Crystallites in a Two-Dimensional Yukawa Fluid

Various properties of crystal clusters (i.e., clusters consisting of particles with six nearest neighbors) in a two-dimensional Yukawa fluid have been considered for the first time in a wide temperature range beginning with the melting temperature. With increasing temperature, the concentration of crystal particles (which noticeably prevail in a melt) decreases slowly, while the defect concentration increases, which results in the formation of large clusters consisting of defects and in the degradation of large crystal clusters in the considered two-dimensional fluid. Their characteristic size and shape change sharply in a narrow temperature range. The comparative analysis of crystal clusters and clusters consisting of topological defects has been performed. Their size distributions and other structural characteristics have been obtained.