abstract

• Understanding glasses and the glass transition requires comprehending the nature of the crossover from the ergodic (or equilibrium) regime, in which the stationary properties of the system have no history dependence, to the mysterious glass transition region, where the measured properties are nonstationary and depend on the protocol of preparation. In this work we use nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations to test the main features of the crossover predicted by the molecular version of the recently developed multicomponent nonequilibrium self-consistent generalized Langevin equation theory. According to this theory, the glass transition involves the abrupt passage from the ordinary pattern of full equilibration to the aging scenario characteristic of glass-forming liquids. The same theory explains that this abrupt transition will always be observed as a blurred crossover due to the unavoidable finiteness of the time window of any experimental observation. We find that within their finite waiting-time window, the simulations confirm the general trends predicted by the theory. © 2017 American Physical Society.

authors

• Lázaro-Lázaro E.
• Medina Noyola Magdaleno
• Mendoza-Méndez P.
• Pérez-Ángel G.
• Ramírez González Pedro Ezequiel
• Sánchez-Díaz L.E.

publication date

• 2017-01-01

published in

• Physical Review E  Journal

keywords

• Differential equations; Glass; Glass forming machines; Liquids; Molecular dynamics; Generalized Langevin equation theories; Glass-forming liquid; History dependence; Measured properties; Nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulation; Nonequilibrium theory; Stationary properties; Transition regions; Glass transition

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1103/PhysRevE.96.022608

PubMed ID

• 28950613

start page

end page

volume

• 96

issue

• 2