On the degeneracy of ordered ground state configurations of the aspherical Gaussian core model

Abstract

We provide rigorous evidence that the ordered ground state configurations of a system of parallel oriented, ellipsoidal particles, interacting via a Gaussian potential (termed in the literature as Gaussian core nematics), must be infinitely degenerate; we have demonstrated that these configurations originate from the related ground state configuration of the corresponding symmetric Gaussian core system via a suitable stretching operation of this lattice in combination with an arbitrary rotation. These findings explain related observations in former investigations, which then remained unexplained. Our conclusions have far reaching consequences for the search of ground state configurations of other nematic particles.