Hierarchical ground-state crystals underlying Hertzian quasicrystals
As a simple physics model for crystal and quasicrystal formation, the Hertzian potential describes the interaction between two soft-core colloidal particles. However, explaining why quasicrystals emerge in such a minimal model remains a theoretical challenge. Here, using analytically exact approaches, we reveal multiple layers of hierarchical crystal patterns that serve as the energy ground states underlying quasicrystals found by computer simulations. Our findings offer a new perspective on quasicrystal formation.
Authors
- Jeff Z. Y. Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7994-6231)
- Fangfu Ye (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1279-105X)
- Yi Geng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7833-6303)
- Yiwei Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-3319-0441)
- Yao Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7926-7597)
- Wenyu Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4582-7488)
Institutions
- University of Waterloo (CA)
- Nankai University (CN)
- FZU ‒ Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (CZ)
- Zhejiang Lab (CN)
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering Tianjin (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-11-25
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-66158-0
- Primary Topic
- Quasicrystal Structures and Properties
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Alliance de recherche numérique du Canada