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We present a computer simulation study on the crystalline phases of hard ellipsoids of revolution. For aspect ratios >or=3 the previously suggested stretched-fcc phase Frenkel and Mulder, Mol. Phys. 55, 1171 (1985) is replaced by a different crystalline phase. Its unit cell contains two ellipsoids with unequal orientations. The lattice is simple monoclinic. The angle of inclination of the lattice, beta, is a very soft degree of freedom, while the two right angles are stiff. For one particular value of beta, the close-packed version of this crystal is a specimen of the family of superdense packings recently reported Donev, Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 255506 (2004). These results are relevant for studies of nucleation and glassy dynamics of colloidal suspensions of ellipsoids.
Pfleiderer et al. (Fri,) studied this question.