Computer simulation of a biaxial nematogenic model on a three-dimensional lattice and based on a recently proposed interaction potential

The present paper considers a biaxial nematogenic lattice model, involving particles of D-2h, symmetry, whose centres of mass are associated with a three-dimensional simple-cubic lattice; the pair potential is isotropic in orientation space, restricted to nearest neighbours, and has the simplified form recently proposed by Sonnet, et al. (Phys. Rev. E 67 (2003) 061701); the mean field analysis carried out by the named authors predicts a range of parameters where a direct first-order transition occurs between biaxial and isotropic phases; we have performed Monte Carlo simulations, and found results which qualitatively confirm their prediction. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.