2005/08/31 by J. Reinisch, Jens Reinisch, Andreas Heuer +1 · 42 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Materials Science · Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Algorithm #Computational physics #Computer science #Dipole #Electric dipole moment #Energy (signal processing) #Glass properties and applications #High-pressure geophysics and materials #Material Dynamics and Properties #Mathematics #Observable #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Realization (probability) #Space (punctuation) #Statistical physics #cond-mat.mtrl-sci
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.95.155502
published in Physical Review Letters 95(15), 155502 (American Physical Society)
arxiv created 2005/08/31 · openalex publication_date 2005/10/05 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Though the existence of two-level systems (TLS) is widely accepted to explain low-temperature anomalies in many physical observables, knowledge about their properties is very rare. For silica, which is one of the prototype glass-forming systems, we elucidate the properties of the TLS via computer simulations by applying a systematic search algorithm. We get specific information in the configuration space, i.e., about relevant energy scales, the absolute number of TLS, and electric dipole moments. Furthermore, important insight about the real-space realization of the TLS can be obtained. Comparison with experimental observations is included.