arXiv subjects

W. Kob

Publications and source records attributed to W. Kob.

18 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2016

Hard X-rays as pump and probe of atomic motion in oxide glasses

Nowadays powerful X-ray sources like synchrotrons and free-electron lasers are considered as ultimate tools for probing microscopic properties in materials. However, the correct interpretation of such experiments requires a good understanding on how the beam affects the properties of the sample, knowledge that is currently lacking for intense X-rays. Here we use X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy to probe static and dynamic properties of oxide and metallic glasses. We find that although the structure does not depend on the flux, strong fluxes do induce a non-trivial microscopic motion in oxide glasses, whereas no such dependence is found for metallic glasses. These results show that high fluxes can alter dynamical properties in hard materials, an effect that needs to be considered in the analysis of X-ray data but which also gives novel possibilities to study materials properties since the beam can not only be used to probe the dynamics but also to pump it.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2008

Aging Dynamics of a Fractal Model Gel

Using molecular dynamics computer simulations we investigate the aging dynamics of a gel. We start from a fractal structure generated by the DLCA-DEF algorithm, onto which we then impose an interaction potential consisting of a short-range attraction as well as a long-range repulsion. After relaxing the system at T=0, we let it evolve at a fixed finite temperature. Depending on the temperature T we find different scenarios for the aging behavior. For T>0.2 the fractal structure is unstable and breaks up into small clusters which relax to equilibrium. For T<0.2 the structure is stable and the dynamics slows down with increasing waiting time. At intermediate and low T the mean squared displacement scales as t^{2/3} and we discuss several mechanisms for this anomalous time dependence. For intermediate T, the self-intermediate scattering function is given by a compressed exponential at small wave-vectors and by a stretched exponential at large wave-vectors. In contrast, for low T it is a stretched exponential for all wave-vectors. This behavior can be traced back to a subtle interplay between elastic rearrangements, fluctuations of chain-like filaments, and heterogeneity.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2007

Network formation and relaxation dynamics in a new model for colloidal gelation

We investigate the gel formation from the equilibrium sol phase in a simple model that has the characteristics of (colloidal) gel-forming systems at a finite temperature. At low volume fraction and low temperatures, particles are linked by long-living bonds and form an open percolating network. By means of molecular dynamics simulations, we study the lifetime of bonds and nodes of the gel network in order to relate these quantities to the complex relaxation dynamics observed.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2006

Length scale dependent relaxation in colloidal gels

We use molecular dynamics computer simulations to investigate the relaxation dynamics of a simple model for a colloidal gel at a low volume fraction. We find that due to the presence of the open spanning network this dynamics shows at low temperature a non-trivial dependence on the wave-vector which is very different from the one observed in dense glass-forming liquids. At high wave vectors the relaxation is due to the fast cooperative motion of the branches of the gel network, whereas at low wave vectors the overall rearrangements of the heterogeneous structure produce the relaxation process.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2005

Democratic particle motion for meta-basin transitions in simple glass-formers

We use molecular dynamics computer simulations to investigate the local motion of the particles in a supercooled simple liquid. Using the concept of the distance matrix we find that the alpha-relaxation corresponds to a small number of crossings from one meta-basin to a neighboring one. Each crossing is very rapid and involves the collective motion of O(40) particles that form a relatively compact cluster, whereas string-like motions seem not to be relevant for these transitions. These compact clusters are thus candidates for the cooperatively rearranging regions proposed long times ago by Adam and Gibbs.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2005

Evidence for the weak steric hindrance scenario in the supercooled-state reorientational dynamics

We use molecular-dynamics computer simulations to study the translational and reorientational dynamics of a glass-forming liquid of dumbbells. For sufficiently elongated molecules the standard strong steric hindrance scenario for the rotational dynamics is found. However, for small elongations we find a different scenario -- the weak steric hindrance scenario -- caused by a new type of glass transition in which the orientational dynamics of the molecule's axis undergoes a dynamical transition with a continuous increase of the non-ergodicity parameter. These results are in agreement with the theoretical predictions by the mode-coupling theory for the glass transition.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2004

Channel Formation and Intermediate Range Order in Sodium Silicate Melts and Glasses

We use inelastic neutron scattering and molecular dynamics simulation to investigate the interplay between the structure and the fast sodium ion diffusion in various sodium silicates. With increasing temperature and decreasing density the structure factors exhibit an emerging prepeak around 0.9 A^-1. We show, that this prepeak has its origin in the formation of sodium rich channels in the static structure. The channels serve as preferential ion conducting pathways in the relative immobile Si-O matrix. On cooling below the glass transition this intermediate range order is frozen in.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2003

Vibrational properties of a sodium tetrasilicate glass: Ab initio versus Classical Force Fields

We have determined the vibrational properties of a sodium tetrasilicate (Na$_{2}$Si$_{4}$O$_{9}$) glass model generated by molecular dynamics simulations. The study has been carried out using a classical valence force fields approach as well as an {\it ab initio} approach in the framework of the density functional theory. The total and partial vibrational densities of states (VDOS) are presented, as well as some characteristics of the vibrational modes (participation ratios, correlation lengths). For the low-frequency bands below 500 cm${}^{-1}$, we find that the shapes of the two calculated VDOS as well as those of their corresponding partial VDOS are quite similar. For the intermediate- and high-frequency ranges, we observe larger discrepancies between the two calculations. Using the eigenmodes of the dynamical matrix we also calculate the polarized Raman spectra within the bond-polarizability approximation. We find an overall agreement between the calculated parallel polarized (VV) Raman spectra and the corresponding experimental spectrum. Regarding the perpendicular depolarized (VH) Raman spectrum, the comparison of the calculated spectra to the experimental data indicates a need for an adjustment of the VH bond-polarizability parameters.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2003

Dynamics of a rod in a random static environment: non-Gaussianity at large length scales

We present molecular dynamics simulations of the motion of a single rod in a two-dimensional random static array of disks. For long rods the mean-squared displacement of the center-of-mass shows a cage effect similar to that observed in supercooled liquids or dense colloidal systems. We have determined the time-dependence of the non-Gaussian parameter for different rod lengths. It is found that the long-time regime is strongly non-Gaussian even at length scales of the order of 10-15 times the rod length, thus showing the heterogeneity of the dynamics at such length scales.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2002

The importance of intermediate range order in silicates: molecular dynamics simulation studies

We present the results of large scale computer simulations in which we investigate the structural and dynamic properties of silicate melts with the compositions (Na_2O)2(SiO_2) and (Al_2O_3)2(SiO_2). In order to treat such systems on a time scale of several nanoseconds and for system sizes of several thousand atoms it is necessary to use parallel supercomputers like the CRAY T3E. We show that the silicates under consideration exhibit additional intermediate range order as compared to silica (SiO_2) where the characteristic intermediate length scales stem from the tetrahedral network structure. For the sodium silicate system it is demonstrated that the latter structural features are intimately connected with a surprising dynamics in which the one--particle motion of the sodium ions appears on a much smaller time scale than the correlations between different sodium ions.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv1999

Cooling Rate Dependence and Dynamic Heterogeneity Below the Glass Transition in a Lennard-Jones Glass

We investigate a binary Lennard-Jones mixture with molecular dynamics simulations. We consider first a system cooled linearly in time with the cooling rate gamma. By varying gamma over almost four decades we study the influence of the cooling rate on the glass transition and on the resulting glass. We find for all investigated quantities a cooling rate dependence; with decreasing cooling rate the system falls out of equilibrium at decreasing temperatures, reaches lower enthalpies and obtains increasing local order. Next we study the dynamics of the melting process by investigating the most immobile and most mobile particles in the glass. We find that their spatial distribution is heterogeneous and that the immobile/mobile particles are surrounded by denser/less dense cages than an average particle.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv1999

Thermodynamics of supercooled liquids in the inherent structure formalism: a case study

In this article we review the thermodynamics of liquids in the framework of the inherent structure formalism. We then present calculations of the distribution of the basins in the potential energy of a binary Lennard-Jones mixture as a function of temperature. The comparison between the numerical data and the theoretical formalism allows us to evaluate the degeneracy of the inherent structures in a bulk system and to estimate the energy of the lowest energy disordered state (the Kauzmann energy). We find that, around the mode-coupling temperature, the partition function of the liquid is approximated well by the product of two loosely coupled partition functions, one depending on the inherent structures quantities (depth of the basins and their degeneracy) and one describing the free energy of the liquid constrained in one typical basin.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv1999

Inherent Structure Entropy of Supercooled Liquids

We present a quantitative description of the thermodynamics in a supercooled binary Lennard Jones liquid via the evaluation of the degeneracy of the inherent structures, i.e. of the number of potential energy basins in configuration space. We find that for supercooled states, the contribution of the inherent structures to the free energy of the liquid almost completely decouples from the vibrational contribution. An important byproduct of the presented analysis is the determination of the Kauzmann temperature for the studied system. The resulting quantitative picture of the thermodynamics of the inherent structures offers new suggestions for the description of equilibrium and out-of-equilibrium slow-dynamics in liquids below the Mode-Coupling temperature.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv1998

Spatial Correlations of Mobility and Immobility in a Glassforming Lennard-Jones Liquid

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, string-like 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 at 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.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv1997

The Mode-Coupling Theory of the Glass Transition

We give a brief introduction to the mode-coupling theory of the glass transition, a theory which was proposed a while ago to describe the dynamics of supercooled liquids. After presenting the basic equations of the theory, we review some of its predictions and compare these with results of experiments and computer simulations. We conclude that the theory is able to describe the dynamics of supercooled liquids in remarkably great detail.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv1996

Small-Angle Excess Scattering: Glassy Freezing or Local Orientational Ordering?

We present Monte Carlo simulations of a dense polymer melt which shows glass-transition-like slowing-down upon cooling, as well as a build up of nematic order. At small wave vectors q this model system shows excess scattering similar to that recently reported for light-scattering experiments on some polymeric and molecular glass-forming liquids. For our model system we can provide clear evidence that this excess scattering is due to the onset of short-range nematic order and not directly related to the glass transition.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv1996

Some Finite Size Effects in Simulations of Glass Dynamics

We present the results of a molecular dynamics computer simulation in which we investigate the dynamics of silica. By considering different system sizes, we show that in simulations of the dynamics of this strong glass former surprisingly large finite size effects are present. In particular we demonstrate that the relaxation times of the incoherent intermediate scattering function and the time dependence of the mean squared displacement are affected by such finite size effects. By compressing the system to high densities, we transform it to a fragile glass former and find that for that system these types of finite size effects are much weaker.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv1995

Cooling rate dependence of the internal structure of a Lennard-Jones glass

Using molecular dynamics computer simulations we investigate the dependence of bulk properties of a Lennard-Jones glass on the cooling rate with which the glass was produced. By studying the clusters formed by the nearest neighbor shells of the particles, we show that the internal structure of the glass depends on the cooling rate and that the cooling rate dependence of the enthalpy of the glass can be understood by the change of this internal structure.

cond-mat↗