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Updated: Apr 25, 2026

The Preparation of Electrohydrodynamic Bridges from Polar Dielectric Liquids
Published on: September 30, 2014
Elementary excitations and crossover phenomenon in liquids
T Iwashita1, D M Nicholson2, T Egami3
1Department of Physics and Astronomy, Joint Institute for Neutron Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA.
In metallic liquids, local configurational excitations, not phonons, are key. Their competition with phonons explains liquid crossover phenomena, offering insights into viscosity and fragility.
Area of Science:
- Condensed matter physics
- Materials science
- Statistical mechanics
Background:
- Phonons are elementary excitations in solids, but short-lived in liquids.
- Understanding elementary excitations in liquids is crucial for explaining their properties.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify the elementary excitations in high-temperature metallic liquids.
- To investigate the role of these excitations in liquid phenomena like crossover.
Main Methods:
- Classical and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations.
- Analysis of atomic connectivity networks in metallic liquids.
Main Results:
- Local configurational excitations are identified as elementary excitations in metallic liquids.
- The interplay between configurational excitations and phonons governs the liquid crossover phenomenon.
Conclusions:
- Elementary excitations in liquids differ fundamentally from those in solids.
- Configurational excitations provide a new framework for understanding liquid behavior, including fragility and viscosity increase.
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