Prediction of binary hard-sphere crystal structures

We present a method based on a combination of a genetic algorithm and Monte Carlo simulations to predict close-packed crystal structures in hard-core systems. We employ this method to predict the binary crystal structures in a mixture of large and small hard spheres with various stoichiometries and diameter ratios between 0.4 and 0.84. In addition to known binary hard-sphere crystal structures similar to NaCl and AlB2 , we predict additional crystal structures with the symmetry of CrB, γCuTi , αIrV , HgBr2 , AuTe2 , Ag2Se , and various structures for which an atomic analog was not found. In order to determine the crystal structures at infinite pressures, we calculate the maximum packing density as a function of size ratio for the crystal structures predicted by our GA using a simulated annealing approach.