Nonaffine heterogeneities and droplet fluctuations in an equilibrium crystalline solid
- Advanced Materials Research Unit, S. N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Salt Lake, Kolkata 700091 (India)
- Centre for Advanced Materials, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Jadavpur, Kolkata 700032 (India)
- Raman Research Institute, C.V. Raman Avenue, Bangalore 560080 (India)
We show, using molecular-dynamics simulations, that a two-dimensional Lennard-Jones solid exhibits droplet fluctuations characterized by nonaffine deviations from local crystallinity. The fraction of particles in these droplets increases as the mean density of the solid decreases and approaches {approx_equal}20% of the total number in the vicinity of the fluid-solid phase boundary. We monitor the geometry, local equation of state, density correlations, and Van Hove functions of these droplets. We provide evidence that these nonaffine heterogeneities should be interpreted as being droplet fluctuations from nearby metastable minima. The local excess pressure of the droplets plotted against the local number density shows a van der Waal loop with distinct branches corresponding to fluidlike compact and stringlike glassy droplets. The distinction between fluidlike and glassy droplets disappears above a well-defined temperature.
- OSTI ID:
- 21471023
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review. E, Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics (Print), Vol. 82, Issue 4; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.82.041115; (c) 2010 The American Physical Society; ISSN 1539-3755
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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GENERAL PHYSICS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
CORRELATIONS
CRYSTALS
DENSITY
DROPLETS
EQUATIONS OF STATE
EQUILIBRIUM
FLUCTUATIONS
FLUIDS
LENNARD-JONES POTENTIAL
MOLECULAR DYNAMICS METHOD
SOLIDS
CALCULATION METHODS
EQUATIONS
PARTICLES
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
POTENTIALS
SIMULATION
VARIATIONS