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We report Monte Carlo studies of solid-fluid coexistence for the soft-sphere potential: (r) = ({r) }^n. Applying a recently developed integration method that proceeds along a coexistence line, we determined coexistence for essentially a continuum of softness s1n from s=0 (hard spheres) to ca. s=0. 25. For s<0. 16, we estimate that fcc is the stable crystal, and that bcc is stable for softer potentials; however, this result is not conclusive. We find substantial disagreement with early coexistence data for n=12, 9, 6, and 4, while confirming more recent studies for n=12 and 6.
Agrawal et al. (Mon,) studied this question.