Genetic algorithm approach to calculation of the ground-state configurations of 2D clusters of non-uniformly charged classical particles

We study a system consisting of two different types of particles, having charge, equal to 1 or q interacting through a pure Coulomb potential and confined in a parabolic trap. The ground-state and metastable state configurations of the classical non-uniformly point-charge particles have been calculated using a new genetic algorithm-based approach. The geometrical structures and structural phase transitions found by the recent Monte Carlo simulations have been confirmed but the localization of a second-order phase transition point has been estimated more accurately at q = 0.488.