Dynamic characteristics of the low-temperature decomposition of the C$_{20}$ fullerene

A novel algorithm has been proposed for simulating thermal decomposition of atomic clusters at such low temperatures that the corresponding lifetimes are macroscopic and, hence, standard molecular dynamics algorithms are inapplicable. The proposed algorithm is based on a combination of the molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo techniques. It has been used to calculate the temperature dependence of the lifetime of the thermalized C$_{20}$ fullerene until it decomposes at $T$ = 1300–4000 K. The frequency factor and activation energy of the decomposition have been determined. It has been demonstrated that the temperature dependences of the lifetimes of the heat-insulated and thermalized fullerenes differ significantly.