Molecular dynamics calculation of the dielectric constant without periodic boundary conditions. I

Abstract

We outline the difficulties in obtaining a reliable value of the dielectric constant of a fluid using molecular dynamics calculations with periodic boundary conditions, and give some explanation of the observed asymptotic behaviour of h_D (r) and hΔ(r) in Monte Carlo simulations of dipolar hard spheres. An alternative method consisting in simulating a dielectric in vacuum is described. This is applied to two dimensional systems. The pertinent theoretical relations for a dielectric disc in vacuum are therefore derived. It is concluded that relations involving MC or MD computation of <m ²> must be carefully handled.