Localized soft modes and the supercooled liquid's irreversible passage through its configuration space

Condensed Matter journal club

Localized soft modes and the supercooled liquid's irreversible passage through its configuration space

  • Event time: 11:30am
  • Event date: 18th June 2010
  • Speaker: Eduardo Sanz (Formerly School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Edinburgh)
  • Location: Room 2511,

Event details

Abstract

Using computer simulations, we show that the localized low frequency normal modes of a configuration in a supercooled liquid are strongly correlated with the irreversible structural reorganization of the particles within that configuration. Establishing this correlation constitutes the identification of the aspect of a configuration that determines the heterogeneity of the subsequent motion. We demonstrate that the spatial distribution of the summation over the soft local modes can persist in spite of particle reorganization that produces significant changes in individual modes.Along with spatial localization, the persistent influence of soft modes in particle relaxation results in anisotropy in the displacements of mobile particles over the time scale referred to as b-relaxation.
J.Chem. Phys. 131 194508 (2009)

Authors

A.Widmer-Cooper, H. Perry, P. Harrowell and D.R. Reichman

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Given the diversity of research in the CM group, chosen topics vary widely. We tend to stick to high-impact journals - Nature, Science, PNAS and PRL have been popular - but this is not prescriptive..

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