Growing Spatial Correlations of Particle Displacements in a Simulated Liquid on Cooling toward the Glass Transition

Claudio Donati; Sharon C. Glotzer; Peter H. Poole

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.82.5064

Growing Spatial Correlations of Particle Displacements in a Simulated Liquid on Cooling toward the Glass Transition

Claudio Donati, Sharon C. Glotzer, and Peter H. Poole

Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 5064 – Published 21 June 1999

Abstract

We define a correlation function that quantifies the spatial correlation of single-particle displacements in liquids and amorphous materials. We show that for an equilibrium liquid 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.

Received 11 November 1998

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.82.5064

Authors & Affiliations

Claudio Donati¹, Sharon C. Glotzer¹, and Peter H. Poole²

¹Polymers Division and Center for Theoretical and Computational Materials Science, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899
²Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada N6A 5B7