Universal origin of glassy relaxation as recognized by configuration pattern matching

Area of Science:

• Condensed matter physics
• Materials science
• Statistical mechanics

Background:

• Relaxation processes are key to understanding structural changes in liquids and amorphous materials.
• Current research often focuses on individual particle motion, leaving a universal governing principle elusive.
• Understanding these dynamics is critical for designing novel materials with specific properties.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a new perspective on relaxation processes by analyzing the global configuration of a system.
• To introduce a novel global order parameter, inherent structure minimal displacement (IS D), for quantifying configurational variability.
• To establish a unified scaling law that connects mechanical damping to IS D across various conditions.

Main Methods:

• Utilized atomic simulations for seven model glass-forming liquids.
• Developed a pattern-matching technique to define and calculate the inherent structure minimal displacement (IS D).
• Investigated the influence of temperature, pressure, and perturbation time on relaxation dissipation.

Main Results:

• A universal scaling law was identified between the mechanical damping factor and IS D.
• This scaling law successfully unifies the effects of temperature, pressure, and perturbation time on relaxation.
• The findings indicate that the curvature of the potential energy landscape underlies this universal behavior.

Conclusions:

• A universal origin for glassy relaxation has been uncovered, challenging previous particle-centric approaches.
• The inherent structure minimal displacement (IS D) provides a powerful new metric for studying disordered systems.
• This work offers a novel framework for investigating the dynamics of liquids and amorphous materials.