Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 16, 2025

Methods of Ex Situ and In Situ Investigations of Structural Transformations: The Case of Crystallization of Metallic Glasses
Published on: June 7, 2018
Continuum mechanics of nonideal crystals: Microscopic approach based on projection-operator formalism
Florian Miserez1, Saswati Ganguly1, Rudolf Haussmann1
1Fachbereich Physik, Universität Konstanz, D-78457 Konstanz, Germany.
Abstract:
We present a microscopic derivation of the laws of continuum mechanics of nonideal ordered solids including dissipation, defect diffusion, and heat transport. The starting point is the classical many-body Hamiltonian. The approach relies on the Zwanzig-Mori projection operator formalism to connect microscopic fluctuations to thermodynamic derivatives and transport coefficients. Conservation laws and spontaneous symmetry breaking, implemented via Bogoliubov's inequality, determine the selection of the slow variables. Density fluctuations in reciprocal space encode the displacement field and the defect concentration. Isothermal and adiabatic elastic constants are obtained from equilibrium correlations, while transport coefficients are given as Green-Kubo formulas, providing the basis for their measurement in atomistic simulations or colloidal experiments. The approach to the linearized continuum mechanics and results are compared to others from the literature.
Related Concept Videos
Crystal Field Theory - Octahedral Complexes
To explain the observed behavior of transition metal complexes (such as colors), a model involving electrostatic interactions between the electrons from the ligands and the electrons in the unhybridized d orbitals of the central metal atom has been developed. This electrostatic model is crystal field theory (CFT). It helps to understand, interpret, and predict the colors, magnetic behavior, and some structures of coordination compounds of transition metals.
CFT focuses on...
Crystal Field Theory - Tetrahedral and Square Planar Complexes
Crystal field theory (CFT) is applicable to molecules in geometries other than octahedral. In octahedral complexes, the lobes of the dx2−y2 and dz2 orbitals point directly at the ligands. For tetrahedral complexes, the d orbitals remain in place, but with only four ligands located between the axes. None of the orbitals points directly at the tetrahedral ligands. However, the dx2−y2 and dz2 orbitals (along the Cartesian axes) overlap with the ligands less than the dxy,...
X-ray Crystallography
Diffraction
Diffraction is the change in the direction of travel experienced by an electromagnetic wave when it encounters a physical barrier whose dimensions are comparable to those of the wavelength of the light. X-rays are electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths about as long as the distance between neighboring...
The de Broglie Wavelength
Lattice Centering and Coordination Number
Types of Unit Cells
Imagine taking a large number of identical...
Molecular and Ionic Solids
Molecular Solids
Molecular crystalline solids, such as ice, sucrose (table sugar), and iodine, are solids that are composed of neutral molecules as their constituent units. These molecules are held together by weak intermolecular forces such as London dispersion forces, dipole-dipole interactions, or hydrogen bonds, which...

