The quadrupolar electrostatics explanation is clearly deficient and we turn to XSAPT + MBD to explain the physical origins of slip-stacking. In Fig. , we examine lateral displacement potentials for the parallel and perpendicular arrangements of (C 6 H 6 ) 2 . The total interaction potential exhibits a T-shaped minimum for the edge-to-face benzene dimer [Fig. ] and symmetric parallel-displaced minima in the face-to-face arrangement [Fig. ]. The same critical points are exhibited by the vdW potential,