Growing range of correlated motion in a polymer melt on cooling towards the glass transition
Many liquids cooled to low temperatures form glasses (amorphous solids) instead of crystals. As the glass transition is approached, molecules become localized and relaxation times increase by many orders of magnitude1. Many features of this ‘slowing down’ are reasonably well described2 by the mode-coupling theory of supercooled liquids3. The ideal form of this theory predicts a dynamical critical temperature T c at which the molecules become permanently trapped in the ‘cage’ formed by their neighbours, and vitrification occurs. Although there is no sharp transition, because molecules do eventually escape their cage, its signature can still be observed in real and simulated liquids. Unlike c…
Dynamical heterogeneities in a supercooled Lennard-Jones liquid
We present the results of a large scale molecular dynamics computer simulation study in which we investigate whether a supercooled Lennard-Jones liquid exhibits dynamical heterogeneities. We evaluate the non-Gaussian parameter for the self part of the van Hove correlation function and use it to identify ``mobile'' particles. We find that these particles form clusters whose size grows with decreasing temperature. We also find that the relaxation time of the mobile particles is significantly shorter than that of the bulk, and that this difference increases with decreasing temperature.
Stringlike Cooperative Motion in a Supercooled Liquid
Extensive molecular dynamics simulations are performed on a glass-forming Lennard-Jones mixture to determine the nature of the cooperative motions occurring in this model fragile liquid. We observe stringlike cooperative molecular motion (``strings'') at temperatures well above the glass transition. The mean length of the strings increases upon cooling, and the string length distribution is found to be nearly exponential.
Spatial correlations of mobility and immobility in a glass-forming Lennard-Jones liquid
Using extensive molecular dynamics simulations of an equilibrium, glass-forming Lennard-Jones mixture, we characterize in detail the local atomic motions. We show that spatial correlations exist among particles undergoing extremely large (``mobile'') or extremely small (``immobile'') displacements over a suitably chosen time interval. The immobile particles form the cores of relatively compact clusters, while the mobile particles move cooperatively and form quasi-one-dimensional, stringlike clusters. The strength and length scale of the correlations between mobile particles are found to grow strongly with decreasing temperature, and the mean cluster size appears to diverge near the mode-cou…