4,116 research outputs found
Potential energy topology and relaxation processes in a model glass
We use computer simulation to investigate the topology of the potential
energy and to search for doublewell potential's (DWP) in a
model glass . By a sequence of Newtonian and dissipative dynamics we find
different minima of and the energy profile along the least
action paths joining them. At variance with previous suggestions, we find that
the parameters describing the DWP's are correlated among each others. Moreover,
the trajectory of the system in the 3-d configurational phase space follows
a quasi-1-d manifold. The motion parallel to the path is characterized by jumps
between minima, and is nearly uncorrelated from the orthogonal, harmonic,
dynamics.Comment: 4 pages, RevTex, 4 PostScript figure
ORIGIN OF LIGHT SCATTERING FROM DISORDERED SYSTEMS
Anelastic light scattering is computed numerically for model disordered
systems (linear chains and 2-dimensional site and bond percolators), with and
without electrical disorder. A detailed analysis of the vibrational modes and
of their Raman activity evidences that two extreme mechanisms for scattering
may be singled out. One of these resembles scattering from finite size systems,
while the other mechanisms originates from spatial fluctuations of the
polarizability and is such that modes in even small frequency intervals may
have very different Raman activities. As a consequence, the average coupling
coefficient is the variance of a zero-average quantity. Our
analysis shows that for both linear chains and 2-dimensional percolators the
second mechanism dominates over the first, and therefore Raman scattering from
disordered systems is essentially due to spatial fluctuations.Comment: 12 pages, Latex, 7 figures available on request
Frustration and sound attenuation in structural glasses
Three classes of harmonic disorder systems (Lennard-Jones like glasses,
percolators above threshold, and spring disordered lattices) have been
numerically investigated in order to clarify the effect of different types of
disorder on the mechanism of high frequency sound attenuation. We introduce the
concept of frustration in structural glasses as a measure of the internal
stress, and find a strong correlation between the degree of frustration and the
exponent alpha that characterizes the momentum dependence of the sound
attenuation . In particular, alpha decreases from
about d+1 in low-frustration systems (where d is the spectral dimension), to
about 2 for high frustration systems like the realistic glasses examined.Comment: Revtex, 4 pages including 4 figure
High frequency sound waves in vitreous silica
We report a molecular dynamics simulation study of the sound waves in
vitreous silica in the mesoscopic exchanged momentum range. The calculated
dynamical structure factors are in quantitative agreement with recent
experimental inelastic neutron and x-ray scattering data. The analysis of the
longitudinal and transverse current spectra allows to discriminate between
opposite interpretations of the existing experimental data in favour of the
propagating nature of the high frequency sound waves.Comment: 4 pages, Revtex, 4 ps figures; to be published in Phys. Rev. Lett.,
February 198
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