Neutron and x-ray scattering off atomic clusters

We present results of isothermal molecular-dynamics simulations for sodium clusters of size N=8, 20, 100. Generalized pair correlation functions and static and dynamic structure factors are calculated for temperatures in the range 100--400 K. Na₂₀ and Na₁₀₀ appear to undergo a melting transition, which is observable in both static and dynamic structure factors. Because of its small size, Na₈ shows no dramatic change in its properties with temperature. We conclude that x-ray and thermal neutron scattering in particular can be used as valuable sources of information on the ionic dynamics and structure of sodium clusters.