6533b871fe1ef96bd12d1172
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Spatial correlations of mobility and immobility in a glass-forming Lennard-Jones liquid
Steven J. PlimptonSharon C. GlotzerPeter H. PooleWalter KobClaudio Donatisubject
Length scalePhysicsNucleationFOS: Physical sciencesCondensed Matter - Soft Condensed Matter01 natural sciences010305 fluids & plasmasMolecular dynamicsRelatively compact subspaceChemical physics0103 physical sciencesSoft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft)Relaxation (physics)ParticleDynamical heterogeneityStatistical physics010306 general physicsGlass transitiondescription
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-coupling critical temperature. We show that these correlations in the particle displacements are related to equilibrium fluctuations in the local potential energy and local composition.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998-10-06 | Physical Review E |