Radial-fluctuation-induced stabilization of the ordered state in two-dimensional classical clusters

Melting of two-dimensional (2D) clusters of classical particles is studied using Brownian dynamics and Langevin molecular dynamics simulations. The particles are confined either by a circular hard wall or by a parabolic external potential and interact through a dipole or a screened Coulomb potential. We found that, with decreasing strength of the interparticle interaction, clusters with a short-range interparticle interaction and confined by a hard wall exhibit a reentrant behavior in its orientational order.