Inherent-state melting and the onset of glassy dynamics in two-dimensional supercooled liquids.

ABSTRACT: Below the onset temperature T_o, the equilibrium relaxation time of most glass-forming liquids exhibits glassy dynamics characterized by a super-Arrhenius temperature dependence. In this supercooled regime, the relaxation dynamics also proceeds through localized elastic excitations corresponding to hopping events between inherent states, i.e., potential-energy-minimizing configurations of the liquid. Despite its importance in distinguishing the supercooled regime from the high-temperature regime, the microscopic origin of T_o is not yet known. Here, we construct a theory for the onset temperature in two dimensions and find that an inherent-state melting transition, described by the binding-unbinding transition of dipolar elastic excitations, delineates the

SUBMITTER: Fraggedakis D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10083586 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature