Institute for Data Analysis and Visualization

We have made a detailed numerical analysis of neutron diffraction lineshapes across the constant -coverage melting transition of incommensurate monolayers of methane structure factor. We find that in the liquid phase the liquid lineshapes is well fitted with a lorentzian structure factor. While the exact nature of the transition very close to Tm cannot be commented upon, the 'freezing' of the liquid appears to be initially continuous, with an increase in correlation length to hundreds of Angstroms before the appearance of a solid phase.