Automated characterization of spatial and dynamical heterogeneity in supercooled liquids via implementation of machine learning

Abstract

A computational approach by an implementation of the principle component analysis (PCA) with K-means and Gaussian mixture (GM) clustering methods from machine learning algorithms to identify structural and dynamical heterogeneities of supercooled liquids is developed. In this method, a collection of the average weighted coordination numbers () of particles calculated from particles’ positions are used as an order parameter to build a low-dimensional representation of feature (structural) space for K-means clustering to sort the particles in the system into few meso-states using PCA. Nano-domains or aggregated clusters are also formed in configurational (real) space from a direct mapping using associated meso-states’ particle identities with some misclassified interfacial particles. These classification uncertainties can be improved by a co-learning strategy which utilizes the probabilistic GM clustering and the information transfer between the structural space and configurational space iteratively until convergence. A final classification of meso-states in structural space and domains in configurational space are stable over long times and measured to have dynamical heterogeneities. Armed with such a classification protocol, various studies over the thermodynamic and dynamical properties of these domains indicate that the observed heterogeneity is the result of liquid–liquid phase separation after quenching to a supercooled state.