Collectivity of motion in undercooled liquids and amorphous solids

Abstract

The motion of the structure determining components is highly collective, both in amorphous solids and in undercooled liquids. This has been deduced from experimental low temperature data in the tunneling regime as well as from the vanishing isotope effect in diffusion in glasses and undercooled liquids. In molecular dynamics simulations of glasses one observes that both low frequency resonant vibrations and atomic jumps are centered on more than 10 atoms which, in densely packed materials, form chain-like structures. With increasing temperature the number of atoms jumping collectively increases. These chains of collectively jumping atoms are also seen in undercooled liquids. Collectivity only vanishes at higher temperatures. This collectivity is intimately related to the dynamic heterogeneity which causes a non-Gaussianity of the atomic displacements.