Connection between Adam-Gibbs theory and spatially heterogeneous dynamics

We investigate the spatially heterogeneous dynamics in the extended simple point charge model of water using molecular dynamics simulations. We relate the average mass n* of mobile particle clusters to the diffusion constant and the configurational entropy. Hence, n* can be interpreted as the mass of the "cooperatively rearranging regions" that form the basis of the Adam-Gibbs theory of the dynamics of supercooled liquids. We also examine the time and temperature dependence of these transient clusters.     

Clustering and cooperative dynamics in a reactive system

We study the dependence of the dynamics on the size of particle clusters that grow by stepwise aggregation in a reactive epoxy-amine mixture. The data reveal the cluster property involved in the glasslike arrest and its quantitative link with the structural relaxation time. We find that the number-average cluster size xn governs the formation of a glassy phase as distinct from a gel phase, and that xn correlates to the size of the "cooperatively rearranging regions" postulated by the Adam-Gibbs model for glass forming liquids. These results suggest that the step polymerization process generates clusters that behave much like dynamical heterogeneities observed in supercooled liquids.     

Atomic mechanism of glass formation in supercooled monatomic liquids

Atomic mechanism of glass formation in supercooled monatomic liquids is monitored via analyzing the spatial arrangement of solid-like atoms. The supercooled states are obtained by cooling from the melt using molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. Solid-like atoms, detected via Lindemann-like freezing criterion, are found throughout the liquid. Their number increases with decreasing temperature and they form clusters. In the deeply supercooled region, all solid-like atoms form a single percolation cluster which spans throughout the system. The number of atoms in this cluster increases steeply with further cooling. Glass formation in supercooled liquids occurs when a single percolation cluster of solid-like atoms involves the majority of atoms in the system to form a relatively rigid glassy solid. By analyzing the temperature dependence of static and dynamic properties, we identify three characteristic temperatures of glass formation in supercooled liquids including the Vogel–Fulcher temperature.     

Monte Carlo simulation of supercooled liquids using a self-consistent local temperature

We combine Creutz energy conservation with Kawasaki spin exchange to simulate the microcanonical dynamics of a system of interacting particles. Relaxation occurs via Glauber spin-flip activation using a self-consistent temperature. Heterogeneity in the dynamics comes from finite-size constraints on the spin exchange that yield a distribution of correlated regions. The simulation produces a high-frequency response that can be identified with the boson peak, and a lower-frequency peak that contains non-Debye relaxation and non-Arrhenius activation, similar to the primary response of supercooled liquids.     

A one parameter fit for glassy dynamics as a quantum corollary of the liquid to solid transition

We apply microcanonical ensemble considerations to suggest that, whenever it may thermalise, a general disorder-free many-body Hamiltonian of a typical atomic system has solid-like eigenstates at low energies and fluid-type (and gaseous, plasma) eigenstates associated with energy densities exceeding those present in the melting (and, respectively, higher energy) transition(s). In particular, the lowest energy density at which the eigenstates of such a clean many body atomic system undergo a non-analytic change is that of the melting (or freezing) transition. We invoke this observation to analyse the evolution of a liquid upon supercooling (i.e. cooling rapidly enough to avoid solidification below the freezing temperature). Expanding the wavefunction of a supercooled liquid in the complete eigenbasis of the many-body Hamiltonian, only the higher energy liquid-type eigenstates contribute significantly to measurable hydrodynamic relaxations (e.g. those probed by viscosity) while static thermodynamic observables become weighted averages over both solid- and liquid-type eigenstates. Consequently, when extrapolated to low temperatures, hydrodynamic relaxation times of deeply supercooled liquids (i.e. glasses) may seem to diverge at nearly the same temperature at which the extrapolated entropy of the supercooled liquid becomes that of the solid. In this formal quantum framework, the increasingly sluggish (and spatially heterogeneous) dynamics in supercooled liquids as their temperature is lowered stems from the existence of the single non-analytic change of the eigenstates of the clean many-body Hamiltonian at the equilibrium melting transition present in low energy solid-type eigenstates. We derive a single (possibly computable) dimensionless parameter fit to the viscosity and suggest other testable predictions of our approach.     

Democratic particle motion for metabasin transitions in simple glass formers

We use molecular dynamics computer simulations to investigate the local motion of the particles in a supercooled binary liquid. Using the concept of the distance matrix, we find that the alpha relaxation corresponds to a small number of crossings from one metabasin to a neighboring one. Each crossing is very rapid and involves the collective motion of O(40) particles that form a relatively compact cluster, whereas stringlike motions seem not to be relevant for these transitions. These compact clusters are thus potential candidates for the cooperatively rearranging regions proposed a long time ago by Adam and Gibbs.     

非晶态物质原子局域连接度与弛豫动力学

非晶态物质的本质及形成过程是凝聚态物理领域最困难也是最有趣的问题之一.非晶形成过程在原子结构上不会衍生出人们在传统晶体结构里所熟悉的长程有序性,因此对于此类在自然界中广泛存在的物质形态,至今还没有有效的实验表征手段和理论研究方法.非晶态物质的原子结构及其构效关系的研究是凝聚态物理和材料科学等众多研究领域所关注的热点问题之一.随着对非晶态物质物性研究的深入,人们逐渐意识到非晶态物质中原子中程序对系统性质的重要影响,建立以中程序为基础的结构-动力学关系对于理解玻璃及玻璃转变的本质起着重要的作用.本文简要综述了基于图论提出的原子局域连接度这一新的结构序参量在液体和玻璃的结构及构效关系研究中的应用.新的结构序参量从过去侧重于关注局域原子团簇的种类和分布,转移到更加关注某一类具有特殊对称性的原子的空间连接情况,即更多地尝试从原子中程序的角度来建立非晶态物质中的构效关系.新的研究结果表明,局域连接度可与非晶态物质中原子的短时或长时动力学行为、输运方式、以及振动模态等一系列物理性质建立联系.     

Apparent finite-size effects in the dynamics of supercooled liquids

Molecular dynamics simulations are performed for a supercooled simple liquid with changing the system size from N=108 to 10(4) to examine possible finite-size effects. Although almost no systematic deviation is detected in the static pair correlation functions, it is demonstrated that the structural alpha relaxation in a small system becomes considerably slower than that in larger systems for temperatures below T(c) at which the size of the cooperative particle motions becomes comparable to the unit cell length of the small system. The discrepancy increases with decreasing temperature.     

Temporally heterogeneous dynamics in granular flows

Granular simulations are used to probe the particle scale dynamics at short, intermediate, and long time scales for gravity-driven, dense granular flows down an inclined plane. On approach to the angle of repose, where motion ceases, the dynamics become intermittent over intermediate times, with strong temporal correlations between particle motions-temporally heterogeneous dynamics. This intermittency is characterized through large-scale structural events whereby the contact network periodically spans the system. A characteristic time scale associated with these processes increases as the stopped state is approached. These features are discussed in the context of the dynamics of supercooled liquids near the glass transition.     

Dynamic criticality in glass-forming liquids

We propose that the dynamics of supercooled liquids and the formation of glasses can be understood from the existence of a zero-temperature dynamical critical point. To support our proposal, we derive a dynamic field theory for a generic kinetically constrained model, which we expect to describe the dynamics of a supercooled liquid. We study this field theory using the renormalization group (RG). Its long time behavior is dominated by a zero-temperature critical point, which for d>2 belongs to the directed percolation universality class. Molecular dynamics simulations seem to confirm the existence of dynamic scaling behavior consistent with the RG predictions.     

Experimental evidence for fast heterogeneous collective structural relaxation in a supercooled liquid near the glass transition

We have extended the exploration of microscopic dynamics of supercooled liquids to small wave numbers Q corresponding to the scale of intermediate range order, by developing a new experimental approach for precise data correction for multiple scattering noise in inelastic coherent neutron scattering. Our results in supercooled Ca0.4K0.6(NO3)(1.4) reveal the first direct experimental evidence, after a decade of controversy, that the so-called picosecond process around the glass transition corresponds to a predicted first, faster stage of the structural relaxation. In addition, they show that this process takes the spatial form of fast heterogeneous collective flow of correlated groups of atoms.     

Role of unstable directions in the equilibrium and aging dynamics of supercooled liquids

The connectivity of the potential energy landscape in supercooled atomic liquids is investigated through a calculation of the instantaneous normal modes spectrum and a detailed analysis of the unstable directions in configuration space. We confirm the hypothesis that the mode-coupling critical temperature is the T at which the dynamics crosses over from free to activated exploration of configuration space. We also observe changes in the local connectivity of configuration space sampled during aging, following a temperature jump from a liquid to a glassy state.     

Recent advances on glass-forming systems driven far from equilibrium

The nature of the glass transition is one of the frontier questions in Statistical Physics and Materials Science. Highly cooperative structural processes develop in glass-forming melts exhibiting relaxational dynamics which is spread out over many decades in time. While considerable progress has been made in recent decades towards understanding dynamical slowing-down in quiescent systems, the interplay of glassy dynamics with external fields reveals a wealth of novel phenomena yet to be explored.This special issue focuses on recent results obtained by the Research Unit FOR 1394 ‘Nonlinear response to probe vitrification’ which was funded by the German Science Foundation (DFG). In the projects of the research unit, strong external fields were used in order to gain insights into the complex structural and transport phenomena at the glass transition under far-from-equilibrium conditions. This aimed inter alia to test theories of the glass transition developed for quiescent systems by pushing them beyond their original regime. Combining experimental, simulational, and theoretical efforts, the eight projects within the FOR 1394 measured and determined aspects of the nonlinear response of supercooled metallic, polymeric, and silica melts, of colloidal dispersions, and of ionic liquids. Applied fields included electric and mechanic fields, and forced active probing (‘micro-rheology’), where a single probe is forced through the glass-forming host. Nonlinear stress-strain and force-velocity relations as well as nonlinear dielectric susceptibilities and conductivities were observed. While the physical manipulation of melts and glasses is interesting in its own right, especially technologically, the investigations performed by the FOR 1394 suggest to use the response to strong homogeneous and inhomogeneous fields as technique to explore on the microscopic level the cooperative mechanisms in dense melts of strongly interacting constituents. Questions considered concern the (de-)coupling of different dynamical degrees of freedom in an external field, and the ensuing state diagrams. What forces are required to detach a localized probe particle from its initial environment in a supercooled liquid, in a glassy or granular system? Do metallic and colloidal glasses yield homogeneously or by strain localization under differently applied stresses? Which mechanisms determine field-dependent susceptibilities in dielectric and ionically conducting glass formers?     

Dynamics of chain molecules in disordered materials

The dynamic behavior of hard chains in disordered materials composed of fixed hard spheres is studied using discontinuous molecular dynamics simulations. The matrix induces entanglements in the chain fluid, i.e., for high matrix densities the diffusion coefficient D scales with the chain length N as D is approximately N(-2). At high matrix densities the rotational relaxation time becomes very large but the translational diffusion is not affected significantly; i.e., the chains display a dynamic heterogeneity reminiscent of probe diffusion in supercooled liquids and glasses. We show that this is because some chains are trapped, and move via a hopping mechanism. There are no signatures of this dynamic heterogeneity in the matrix static structure, however, which is identical to that of a hard-sphere liquid.     

Clusters and fluctuations at mean-field critical points and spinodals

We show that the structure of the fluctuations close to spinodals and mean-field critical points is qualitatively different from the structure close to non-mean-field critical points. This difference has important implications for many areas including the formation of glasses in supercooled liquids. In particular, the divergence of the measured static structure function in near-mean-field systems close to the glass transition is suppressed relative to the mean-field prediction in systems for which a spatial symmetry is broken.     

Relaxation processes in supercooled confined water and implications for protein dynamics

We show that the viscosity-related main (alpha) relaxation of confined water vanishes at a temperature where the volume required for the cooperative alpha relaxation becomes larger than the size of the geometrically confined water cluster. This occurs typically around 200 K, implying that above this temperature we observe a merged alpha-beta relaxation, whereas below it only a local (beta) relaxation remains. This also means that such confined supercooled water does not exhibit any true glass transition, in contrast to other liquids in similar confinements. Furthermore, it implies that deeply supercooled water in biological systems, such as membranes and proteins, generally shows only a local beta relaxation, a finding of importance for low temperature properties of biological materials.     

Nonlinear ion transport in liquid and solid electrolytes

This paper describes nonlinear ion transport properties of liquid and solid electrolytes. Typically, the relation between ionic current density and electric field becomes nonlinear at electric fields above 50–100?kV/cm. We review the 1st and 2nd Wien effect found in classical strong and weak electrolyte solutions as well as the strong nonlinear ion transport effects observed for inorganic glasses and for polymer electrolytes. Furthermore, we give an overview over models describing nonlinear ion transport in electrolyte solutions, in glasses and in polymers. Recent results are presented for the nonlinear ionic conductivity of supercooled ionic liquids. We show that supercooled ionic liquids exhibit anomalous Wien effects, which are clearly distinct from the classical Wien effects. We also discuss the frequency dependence of higher-order conductivity and permittivity spectra of these liquids.     

Modifying fragility and collective motion in polymer melts with nanoparticles

We investigate the impact of nanoparticles (NP) on the fragility and cooperative stringlike motion in a model glass-forming polymer melt by molecular dynamics simulation. The NP cause significant changes to both the fragility and the average length of stringlike motion, where the effect depends on the NP-polymer interaction and NP concentration. We interpret these changes via the Adam-Gibbs (AG) theory, assuming the strings can be directly identified with the abstract "cooperatively rearranging regions" of AG. Our findings indicate that fragility is primarily a measure of the temperature dependence of the cooperativity of molecular motion.     

Dynamics of supercooled fluids

The dynamics of supercooled fluids is investigated. This approach is based on a static mean field theory of freezing developed by Grewe and Klein and the dynamical theory of Cahn and Hilliard. A nonlocal term is introduced to the standard Landau-Ginsburg-Wilson Hamiltonian and the resulting dynamics are explored. It is shown that for short times the supercooled liquid is unstable to density fluctuations of a nonzero wavevectork. Thek at which this instability first appears is on the order of the inverse range of the interaction potential.After Oct. 1, 1982: Institute for Basic Studies National Bureau of Standards Washington DC 20234, USASupported in part by grants from the ARO, NSF