Computer investigation of the energy landscape of amorphous silica

Abstract

The multidimensional topography of the collective potential energy function of a so-called strong glass former (silica) is analyzed by means of classical molecular dynamics calculations. Features qualitatively similar to those of fragile glasses are recovered at high temperatures : in particular an intrinsic characteristic temperature $T_c\simeq 3500$K is evidenced above which the system starts to investigate non-harmonic potential energy basins. It is shown that the anharmonicities are essentially characterized by a roughness appearing in the potential energy valleys explored by the system for temperatures above $T_c$.

5 pages; accepted for publication in PRL

References in corpus (1)

• The glass transition in a model silica glass: evolution of the local structure

Cited by in corpus (7)

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• Configuration space connectivity across the fragile to strong transition in silica
• Comparative classical and ab initio Molecular Dynamics study of molten and glassy germanium dioxide
• An energy-landscape-based crossover temperature in glass-forming liquids