In computational geometry

Computational geometry

Computational geometry is a branch of computer science devoted to the study of algorithms which can be stated in terms of geometry. Some purely geometrical problems arise out of the study of computational geometric algorithms, and such problems are also considered to be part of computational...

, the cone algorithm identifies surface particles quickly and accurately for three-dimensional clusters composed of discrete particles. It is especially useful for computational surface science

Surface science

Surface science is the study of physical and chemical phenomena that occur at the interface of two phases, including solid–liquid interfaces, solid–gas interfaces, solid–vacuum interfaces, and liquid-gas interfaces. It includes the fields of surface chemistry and surface physics. Some related...

 and computational nano science

Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology is the study of manipulating matter on an atomic and molecular scale. Generally, nanotechnology deals with developing materials, devices, or other structures possessing at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometres...

. The cone algorithm was first described in a publication about nanogold in 2005. More detailed explanations and source code are available online. http://www.pas.rochester.edu/~wangyt/algorithms/cone/index.html

The cone algorithm works well with clusters in condensed phases, including solid and liquid phases. It can handle the situations when one configuration includes multiple clusters or when wholes exist inside clusters. It can also be applied to a cluster iteratively to identify multiple sub-surface layers.