An investigation of the liquid to glass transition using integral equations for the pair structure of coupled replicae
- Université de Lorraine, LCP-A2MC, EA 3469, 1 Bd. François Arago, Metz F-57078 (France)
- Université Pierre et Marie Curie, UMR 8234 PHENIX, Paris, France and Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1EW (United Kingdom)
- Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Trieste, Strada Costiera 11, 34151 Grignano, Trieste (Italy)
Extensive numerical solutions of the hypernetted-chain (HNC) and Rogers-Young (RY) integral equations are presented for the pair structure of a system of two coupled replicae (1 and 2) of a “soft-sphere” fluid of atoms interacting via an inverse-12 pair potential. In the limit of vanishing inter-replica coupling ε{sub 12}, both integral equations predict the existence of three branches of solutions: (1) A high temperature liquid branch (L), which extends to a supercooled regime upon cooling when the two replicae are kept at ε{sub 12} = 0 throughout; upon separating the configurational and vibrational contributions to the free energy and entropy of the L branch, the Kauzmann temperature is located where the configurational entropy vanishes. (2) Starting with an initial finite coupling ε{sub 12}, two “glass” branches G{sub 1} and G{sub 2} are found below some critical temperature, which are characterized by a strong remnant spatial inter-replica correlation upon taking the limit ε{sub 12} → 0. Branch G{sub 2} is characterized by an increasing overlap order parameter upon cooling, and may hence be identified with the hypothetical “ideal glass” phase. Branch G{sub 1} exhibits the opposite trend of increasing order parameter upon heating; its free energy lies consistently below that of the L branch and above that of the G{sub 2} branch. The free energies of the L and G{sub 2} branches are found to intersect at an alleged “random first-order transition” (RFOT) characterized by weak discontinuities of the volume and entropy. The Kauzmann and RFOT temperatures predicted by RY differ significantly from their HNC counterparts.
- OSTI ID:
- 22415324
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 141, Issue 17; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-9606
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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