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Updated: Feb 18, 2026

Measuring the Densities of Aqueous Glasses at Cryogenic Temperatures
Published on: June 28, 2017
Supercooled and glassy water: Metastable liquid(s), amorphous solid(s), and a no-man's land
Philip H Handle1,2, Thomas Loerting3, Francesco Sciortino1
1Department of Physics, Sapienza University of Rome, I-00185 Roma, Italy; philip.handle@uibk.ac.at thomas.loerting@uibk.ac.at francesco.sciortino@uniroma1.it.
Abstract:
We review the recent research on supercooled and glassy water, focusing on the possible origins of its complex behavior. We stress the central role played by the strong directionality of the water-water interaction and by the competition between local energy, local entropy, and local density. In this context we discuss the phenomenon of polyamorphism (i.e., the existence of more than one disordered solid state), emphasizing both the role of the preparation protocols and the transformation between the different disordered ices. Finally, we present the ongoing debate on the possibility of linking polyamorphism with a liquid-liquid transition that could take place in the no-man's land, the temperature-pressure window in which homogeneous nucleation prevents the investigation of water in its metastable liquid form.
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