A simple analytical model was proposed which extended the Lennard-Jones potential into the many-body regime. The 2-parameter model drew upon the embedded-atom method formalism. The model was used to calculate properties of a face-centered cubic material, such as elastic constants and defect characteristics, as a function of many-body parameters. It was shown that the ground-state structure of the model included all of the common phases. The melting point of a face-centered cubic material was shown to decrease significantly as the many-body interactions were increased.

Many-Body Effects in FCC Metals: A Lennard-Jones Embedded-Atom Potential. M.I.Baskes: Physical Review Letters, 1999, 83[13], 2592-5