Exploring the soft pinning effect in the dynamics and the structure-dynamics correlation in multicomponent...

Area of Science:

• Condensed Matter Physics
• Materials Science
• Computational Chemistry

Background:

• Understanding multicomponent liquids is crucial for designing novel materials.
• The influence of particle mass on liquid dynamics is complex and temperature-dependent.
• Soft pinning effects in liquids are not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of increased particle mass on the dynamics of multicomponent liquids.
• To explore the temperature-dependent behavior of heavy and light particles.
• To analyze the structure-dynamics correlation in systems with soft pinning.

Main Methods:

• Simulations of a binary Kob-Andersen model with 15% heavier particles.
• Analysis of particle dynamics at varying temperatures.
• Comparison with a modified quaternary framework representing a pinned system.

Main Results:

• Heavy particles exhibit dual effects: decoupling dynamics at high temperatures and coupling at low temperatures.
• Increasing heavy particle mass weakens inter-particle dynamics coupling, enhancing soft pinning.
• Self-dynamics and collective dynamics of lighter particles decouple, similar to pinned systems.

Conclusions:

• Heavy particles effectively act as soft pinning centers, with their impact increasing with mass.
• The modified quaternary framework accurately predicts higher structure-dynamics correlation when soft pinning is present.
• Findings offer insights into controlling liquid properties through particle mass manipulation.