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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Structure and dynamics of yukawa systems

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Abstract Results of molecular dynamics simulations modelling two component charge stabilized colloidal particles interacting via a Yukawa potential are presented. After cooling, the systems freeze into either substitutionally disordered imperfect crystals or into glasslike states. This freezing is characterized by the divergence of a suitable correlation time due to loss of ergodicity. Describing the structure by bond correlation functions, local orientational ordering is observed in the glassy states which is not present in the liquid. In the liquid the diffusion constant obeys an Arrhenius law. As can be deduced from the van Hove functions, in the crystal the particles only oscillate around their mean positions, whereas in the glassy state some particles move by occupying neighbouring sites during local rearrangements.