133 research outputs found
Temperature dependence of spatially heterogeneous dynamics in a model of viscous silica
Molecular dynamics simulations are performed to study spatially heterogeneous
dynamics in a model of viscous silica above and below the critical temperature
of the mode coupling theory, . Specifically, we follow the evolution
of the dynamic heterogeneity as the temperature dependence of the transport
coefficients shows a crossover from non-Arrhenius to Arrhenius behavior when
the melt is cooled. It is demonstrated that, on intermediate time scales, a
small fraction of oxygen and silicon atoms are more mobile than expected from a
Gaussian approximation. These highly mobile particles form transient clusters
larger than that resulting from random statistics, indicating that dynamics are
spatially heterogeneous. An analysis of the clusters reveals that the mean
cluster size is maximum at times intermediate between ballistic and diffusive
motion, and the maximum size increases with decreasing temperature. In
particular, the growth of the clusters continues when the transport
coefficients follow an Arrhenius law. These findings imply that the structural
relaxation in silica cannot be understood as a statistical bond breaking
process. Though the mean cluster sizes for silica are at the lower end of the
spectrum of values reported in the literature, we find that spatially
heterogeneous dynamics in strong and fragile glass formers are similar on a
qualitative level. However, different from results for fragile liquids, we show
that correlated particle motion along quasi one-dimensional, string-like paths
is of little importance for the structural relaxation in this model of silica,
suggesting that string-like motion is suppressed by the presence of covalent
bonds.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figure
Growing spatial correlations of particle displacements in a simulated liquid on cooling toward the glass transition
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
On the Approach to the Equilibrium and the Equilibrium Properties of a Glass-Forming Model
In this note we apply some theoretical predictions that arise in the mean
field framework for a large class of infinite range models to structural
glasses and we present a first comparison of these predictions with numerical
results.Comment: 22 pages, 15 figure
A tentative Replica Study of the Glass Transition
We propose a method to study quantitatively the glass transition in a system
of interacting particles. In spite of the absence of any quenched disorder, we
introduce a replicated version of the hypernetted chain equations. The solution
of these equations, for hard or soft spheres, signals a transition to the glass
phase. However the predicted value of the energy and specific heat in the glass
phase are wrong, calling for an improvement of this method.Comment: 9 pages, four postcript figures attache
Power exhaust concepts and divertor designs for Japanese and European DEMO fusion reactors
Concepts of the power exhaust and divertor design have been developed, with a high priority in the pre-conceptual design phase of the Japan-Europe broader approach DEMO design activity (BA DDA). Common critical issues are the large power exhaust and its fraction in the main plasma and divertor by the radiative cooling (P radtot/P heat 0.8). Different exhaust concepts in the main plasma and divertor have been developed for Japanese (JA) and European (EU) DEMOs. JA proposed a conventional closed divertor geometry to challenge large P sep/R p handling of 30-35 MW m-1 in order to maintain the radiation fraction in the main plasma at the ITER-level (f radmain = P radmain/P heat ∼ 0.4) and higher plasma performance. EU challenged both increasing f radmain to ∼0.65 and handling the ITER-level P sep/R p in the open divertor geometry. Power exhaust simulations have been performed by SONIC (JA) and SOLPS5.1 (EU) with corresponding P sep = 250-300 MW and 150-200 MW, respectively. Both results showed that large divertor radiation fraction (P raddiv/P sep 0.8) was required to reduce both peak q target (10 MW m-2) and T e,idiv. In addition, the JA divertor performance with EU-reference P sep of 150 MW showed benefit of the closed geometry to reduce the peak q target and T e,idiv near the separatrix, and to produce the partial detachment. Integrated designs of the water cooled divertor target, cassette and coolant pipe routing have been developed in both EU and JA, based on the tungsten (W) monoblock concept with Cu-alloy pipe. For year-long operation, DEMO-specific risks such as radiation embrittlement of Cu-interlayers and Cu-alloy cooling pipe were recognized, and both foresee higher water temperature (130 °C-200 °C) compared to that for ITER. At the same time, several improved technologies of high heat flux components have been developed in EU, and different heat sink design, i.e. Cu-alloy cooling pipes for targets and RAFM steel ones for the baffle, dome and cassette, was proposed in JA. The two approaches provide important case-studies of the DEMO divertor, and will significantly contribute to both DEMO designs
Testing Mode-Coupling Theory for a Supercooled Binary Lennard-Jones Mixture II: Intermediate Scattering Function and Dynamic Susceptibility
We have performed a molecular dynamics computer simulation of a supercooled
binary Lennard-Jones system in order to compare the dynamical behavior of this
system with the predictions of the idealized version of mode-coupling theory
(MCT). By scaling the time by the temperature dependent -relaxation
time , we find that in the -relaxation regime and
, the coherent and incoherent intermediate scattering functions, for
different temperatures each follows a -dependent master curve as a function
of scaled time. We show that during the early part of the -relaxation,
which is equivalent to the late part of the -relaxation, these master
curves are well approximated by the master curve predicted by MCT for the
-relaxation. This part is also fitted well by a power-law, the so-called
von Schweidler law. We show that the effective exponent of this power-law
depends on the wave vector if is varied over a large range. The early
part of the -relaxation regime does not show the critical decay
predicted by MCT. The -dependence of the nonergodicity parameter for
and are in qualitative agreement with MCT. On the time
scale of the late -relaxation the correlation functions show a
Kohlrausch-Williams-Watt behavior (KWW). The KWW exponent is
significantly different from the effective von Schweidler exponent . At low
temperatures the -relaxation time shows a power-law behavior
with a critical temperature that is the same as the one found previously for
the diffusion constant [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 73}, 1376 (1994)]. The critical
exponent of this power-law and the von Schweidler exponent fulfill the
connection proposed by MCT between these two quantities. We also show that theComment: 28 Pages of REVTEX, Figures available from W. Ko
Time and length scales in supercooled liquids
We numerically obtain the first quantitative demonstration that development
of spatial correlations of mobility as temperature is lowered is responsible
for the ``decoupling'' of transport properties of supercooled liquids. This
result further demonstrates the necessity of a spatial description of the glass
formation and therefore seriously challenges a number of popular alternative
theoretical descriptions.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figs; improved version: new refs and discussion
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