Analysis of liquids, gases, and supercritical fluids by a two-dimensional replica-exchange Monte Carlo method in temperature and chemical potential space.

We investigate the liquid, gas, and supercritical fluid phases of a Lennard-Jones 12-6 potential system by a two-dimensional replica-exchange method in which not only temperature but also chemical potential is exchanged. The method is referred to as the grand canonical replica-exchange method (GCREM). While one-dimensional replica exchange, which exchanges only temperature, cannot cross first-order phase transition points, GCREM can avoid this problem by making a detour in the two-dimensional parameter space. From only one simulation run, we can obtain probability distributions in the grand canonical ensemble for wide temperature and chemical potential values using the multiple-histogram reweighting techniques. We define a phase diagram near the critical point using thermodynamic quantities. Moreover, we discuss structures in each defined phase and at phase transition points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]