Non-affine heterogeneities and droplet fluctuations in an equilibrium crystalline solid

Abstract

We show, using molecular dynamics simulations, that a two-dimensional Lennard-Jones solid is subject to droplet fluctuations characterized by {\em non-affine} deviations from local crystallinity. The fraction of particles in these droplets increases as the mean density of the solid decreases and approaches $\approx 20$% of the total number in the vicinity of the fluid-solid phase boundary. We monitor the geometry, local equation of state, density correlations and van Hove functions of these droplets and show that some of these droplets are fluid-like and compact, while some are glassy and string-like. We provide evidence that these non-affine heterogeneities should be interpreted as being droplet fluctuations from nearby, metastable minima.

Majorly revised and elaborated with larger figures

References in corpus (3)

• Glass transition in biomolecules and the liquid-liquid critical point of water
• Elastic properties of 2D colloidal crystals from video microscopy
• Coarse-graining microscopic strains in a harmonic, two-dimensional solid and its implications for elasticity: non-local susceptibilities and non-affine noise

Cited by in corpus (4)

• The Relationship of Dynamical Heterogeneity to the Adam-Gibbs and Random First-Order Transition Theories of Glass Formation
• From Crystals to Disordered Crystals: A Hidden Order-Disorder Transition
• Non-affine displacements in crystalline solids in the harmonic limit
• Theory of sound attenuation in amorphous solids from nonaffine motions