Modeling Liquid Crystals and Analysis of Supercooled Liquid Dynamics in 2D​2D and 3D liquid dynamics are intrinsically different; phenomena that are present in 3D systems aren’t necessarily present in 2D. In the case of supercooled liquids, temperature dependence of orientational and translational relaxation time is decoupled in 2D, but not in 3D. Additionally, the Mermin-Wagner theorem states that translational long-range order cannot exist in a 2D systems, though it is observed in 3D. Here, I use molecular dynamics methods to examine the behavior and order of supercooled ellipsoidal molecules in 2D. Molecular dynamics is a method of computer simulation that is rooted in classical mechanics, which involves solving Newton’s equations of motion for a set of particles or molecules. There are many methods of integration used to calculate particle trajectories. The velocity Verlet algorithm is a simple, yet accurate, integration method that directly uses velocities to calculate the particle position at each timestep. The Gay-Berne model is an anisotropic version of the Lennard-Jones potential and is used to calculate interactions between ellipsoidal molecules. This model is often used to represent liquid crystals, a state of matter between an isotropic liquid and a crystalline solid. Like liquids, liquid crystals can still flow but also exhibit an orientational order, which refers to how the particles align along a common axis. The Gay-Berne model accounts for both translational and rotational degrees of freedom, allowing for modeling and analysis of orientational order. ​Gongoleski, GracecreatorRichard StrattadvisorBrown University. ChemistrySPRINT/UTRA Karen T. Romer Undergraduate Teaching and Research Awardsresearch programLiquidsSupercooled liquidsComputer simulationMolecular dynamicsMolecular dynamics--Computer simulationEnglishtext_resourcespostersriuProvidence, RIBrown University20251 posterborn digitalAll rights reservedIn CopyrightAll Rights Reserved10.26300/78kd-b867