arXiv subjects

Claudio Donati

Publications and source records attributed to Claudio Donati.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2000

Role of the unstable directions in the equilibrium and aging dynamics of supercooled liquids

The connectivity of the potential energy landscape in supercooled atomic liquids is investigated through the calculation of the instantaneous normal modes spectrum and a detailed analysis of the unstable directions in configuration space. We confirm the hypothesis that the mode-coupling critical temperature is the $T$ at which the dynamics crosses over from free to activated exploration of configuration space. We also report the observed changes in the local connectivity of configuration space sampled during aging, following a temperature jump from a liquid to a glassy state.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv1999

Theory of Non-linear Susceptibility and Correlation Length in Glasses and Liquids

Within the framework of the effective potential theory of the structural glass transition, we calculate for the p-spin model a static nonlinear susceptibility related to a four-point density correlation function, and show that it grows and diverges in mean field with exponent $γ=1/2$ as the mode coupling critical temperature T_c is approached from below. When T_c is approached from above, we calculate within the mode coupling framework a dynamic nonlinear susceptibility and show that there is a characteristic time where the susceptibility is a maximum, and that this time grows with decreasing T. We find that this susceptibility diverges as T_c is approached from above, and has key features in common with the ``displacement-displacement susceptibility'' recently introduced to measure correlated particle motion in simulations of glass-forming liquids.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv1998

Quantifying Spatially Heterogeneous Dynamics in Computer Simulations of Glassforming Liquids

We examine the phenomenon of dynamical heterogeneity in computer simulations of an equilibrium, glass-forming liquid. We describe several approaches to quantify the spatial correlation of single-particle motion, and show that spatial correlations of particle displacements become increasingly long-range as the temperature decreases toward the mode coupling critical temperature.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv1998

Growing spatial correlations of particle displacements in a simulated liquid on cooling toward the glass transition

We define a correlation function that quantifies the spatial correlation of single-particle displacements in liquids and amorphous materials. We show for an equilibrium liquid that this function is related to fluctuations in a bulk dynamical variable. We evaluate this function using computer simulations of an equilibrium glass-forming liquid, and show that long range spatial correlations of displacements emerge and grow on cooling toward the mode coupling critical temperature.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv1997

String-like Clusters and Cooperative Motion in a Model Glass-Forming Liquid

A large-scale molecular dynamics simulation is performed on a glass-forming Lennard-Jones mixture to determine the nature of dynamical heterogeneities which arise in this model fragile liquid. We observe that the most mobile particles exhibit a cooperative motion in the form of string-like paths (``strings'') whose mean length and radius of gyration increase as the liquid is cooled. The length distribution of the strings is found to be similar to that expected for the equilibrium polymerization of linear polymer chains.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv1997

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.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗