A general structural order parameter for the amorphous solidification of a supercooled liquid

The persistent problem posed by the glass transition is to develop a general atomic level description of amorphous solidification. The answer proposed in this paper is to measure a configuration's capacity to restrain the motion of the constituent atoms. Here, we show that the instantaneous normal modes can be used to define a measure of atomic restraint that accounts for the difference between fragile and strong liquids and the collective length scale of the supercooled liquid. These results represent a significant simplification of the description of amorphous solidification and provide a powerful systematic treatment of the influence of microscopic factors on the formation of an amorphous solid. Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing.

Automated summary

This paper proposes a method to develop a general atomic level description of amorphous solidification by measuring a measure of atomic restraint. By defining the measure using instantaneous normal modes, the differences between fragile and strong liquids and the collective length scale of the supercooled liquid can be taken into account.