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Localized Excitations and the Morphology of Cooperatively Rearranging Regions in a Colloidal Glass-Forming Liquid.
- Source :
-
Physical review letters [Phys Rev Lett] 2016 Feb 12; Vol. 116 (6), pp. 068305. Date of Electronic Publication: 2016 Feb 11. - Publication Year :
- 2016
-
Abstract
- We develop a scheme based on a real space microscopic analysis of particle dynamics to ascertain the relevance of dynamical facilitation as a mechanism of structural relaxation in glass-forming liquids. By analyzing the spatial organization of localized excitations within clusters of mobile particles in a colloidal glass former and examining their partitioning into shell-like and corelike regions, we establish the existence of a crossover from a facilitation-dominated regime at low area fractions to a collective activated hopping-dominated one close to the glass transition. This crossover occurs in the vicinity of the area fraction at which the peak of the mobility transfer function exhibits a maximum and the morphology of cooperatively rearranging regions changes from stringlike to a compact form. Collectively, our findings suggest that dynamical facilitation is dominated by collective hopping close to the glass transition, thereby constituting a crucial step towards identifying the correct theoretical scenario for glass formation.
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1079-7114
- Volume :
- 116
- Issue :
- 6
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Physical review letters
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 26919021
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.068305