Thermal conductivity of solid argon from molecular dynamics simulations.

The thermal conductivity of solid argon in the classical limit has been calculated by equilibrium molecular dynamic simulations using the Green-Kubo formalism and a Lennard-Jones interatomic potential. Contrary to previous theoretical reports, we find that the computed thermal conductivities are in good agreement with experimental data. The computed values are also in agreement with the high-temperature limit of the three-phonon scattering contribution to the thermal conductivity. We find that finite-size effects are negligible and that phonon lifetimes have two characteristic time scales, so that agreement with kinetic theory is obtained only after appropriate averaging of the calculated phonon lifetimes. (c) 2004 American Institute of Physics.