Global Optimization of Lennard-Jones Potential Using Newly Developed Real Coded Genetic Algorithms

In this paper recently developed real coded genetic algorithms are applied to the challenging problem of finding the minimum energy configuration of a cluster of identical atoms interacting through the Lennard-Jones potential. Finding the global optimum of this function is very difficult because it has a large number of local minima, which grows exponentially with molecule size. Computational results for atomic cluster containing up to 15 atoms are obtained and presented. The obtained results show the remarkable performance of newly developed real coded genetic algorithms as compared to to the earlier published results.