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

Published

June 1, 1999

Author(s)

C Donati, S C. Glotzer, P H. Poole

Abstract

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.

Citation

Physical Review Letters

Volume

82

Issue

No. 25

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

computer simulations, glass transition, molecular dynamics

Citation

Donati, C. , Glotzer, S. and Poole, P. (1999), Growing Spatial Correlations of Particle Displacements in a Simulated Liquid on Cooling Toward the Glass Transition, Physical Review Letters, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=851553 (Accessed October 27, 2025)