Freezing transition of xenon on graphite: A computer-simulation study

The freezing transition of xenon adsorbed on graphite at high coverage and temperature is studied by constant-pressure and constant-area molecular dynamics. The transition is found to be first order, in contrast to a recent x-ray-diffraction experiment [P. A. Heiney et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 48, 104 (1982)]. Also, recent objections for using computer experiments to study the melting transition A. Novaco and P. Shea, [Phys. Rev. B 26, 284 (1982) and S. Toxvaerd (unpublished)] are shown to be invalid for the two-dimensional Lennard-Jones system.