Photoabsorption markers of pressure-induced phase changes in small mercury clusters. A case study on Hg-8

Abstract

Photoabsorption spectra of Hg-8 have been calculated at various cluster temperatures and external pressures. A diatomics-in-molecules method has been used to model cluster electronic structure and classical isothermal-isobaric Monte Carlo simulations have been employed for sampling representative cluster configurations. Contributions of different structural isomers of the Hg-8 cluster have been analyzed and related to structural transitions in the cluster, particularly those induced by an increased pressure.