2011/03/02 by Ludovic Berthier, Gilles Tarjus
Chemistry · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Physical and Chemical Molecular Interactions #Cutoff #Electrostatics and Colloid Interactions #Jamming #Material Dynamics and Properties #Relaxation (psychology) #Slowdown #Viscosity #Viscous liquid #cond-mat.stat-mech
paper · pdf · doi:10.1063/1.3592709
published as J. Chem. Phys. 134, 214503 (2011) · 13 pages, 12 figures
arxiv created 2011/03/02 · openalex publication_date 2011/06/01 · arxiv updated 2011/06/07 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We present evidence from computer simulation that the slowdown of relaxation of a standard Lennard-Jones glass-forming liquid and that of its reduction to a model with truncated pair potentials without attractive tails are quantitatively and qualitatively different in the viscous regime. The pair structure of the two models is however very similar. This finding, which appears to contradict the common view that the physics of dense liquids is dominated by the steep repulsive forces between atoms, is characterized in detail, and its consequences are explored. Beyond the role of attractive forces themselves, a key aspect in explaining the differences in the dynamical behavior of the two models is the truncation of the interaction potentials beyond a cutoff at typical interatomic distance. This leads us to question the ability of the jamming scenario to describe the physics of glass-forming liquids and polymers.