arXiv · cond-mat/0607817
Mosaic multi-state scenario vs. one-state description of supercooled liquids
Abstract
According to the mosaic scenario, relaxation in supercooled liquids is ruled by two competing mechanisms: surface tension, opposing the creation of local excitations, and entropy, providing the drive to the configurational rearrangement of a given region. We test this scenario through numerical simulations well below the Mode Coupling temperature. For an equilibrated configuration, we freeze all the particles outside a sphere and study the thermodynamics of this sphere. The frozen environment acts as a pinning field. Measuring the overlap between the unpinned and pinned equilibrium configurations of the sphere, we can see whether it has switched to a different state. We do not find any clear evidence of the mosaic scenario. Rather, our results seem compatible with the existence of a single (liquid) state. However, we find evidence of a growing static correlation length, apparently unrelated to the mosaic one.
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Andrea Cavagna, Tomas S. Grigera, Paolo Verrocchio. 2007-05-07. Mosaic multi-state scenario vs. one-state description of supercooled liquids. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.98.187801
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