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2 \chapter{\label{chap:metalglass}COMPARING MODELS FOR DIFFUSION IN SUPERCOOLED LIQUIDS: THE EUTECTIC COMPOSITION OF THE Ag-Cu ALLOY}
3
4 Solid solutions of silver and copper near the eutectic point have been
5 historical curiosities since Roman emperors used them to cut the
6 silver content in the ubiquitous {\em denarius} coin by plating copper
7 blanks with the eutectic mixture.\cite{Pense92} Curiosity in this
8 alloy continues to the current day since the discovery that it forms a
9 glassy material when rapidly quenched from the melt. The eutectic
10 composition (60.1\% Ag, 39.9\% Cu) was the first glassy metal reported
11 by Duwez in 1960.\cite{duwez:1136} The Duwez experiments give us an upper
12 bound on the cooling rate required ($\approx 10^{6} K/s$) in this
13 alloy, while other metallic glasses (based on Ti-Zr alloys) can be
14 formed with cooling rates of only $1 K/s$.\cite{Peker93} There is
15 clearly a great wealth of information waiting to be discovered in the
16 vitrification and crystallization in liquid alloys.
17
18 The Ag-Cu alloy is also of great theoretical interest because it
19 resembles a model glass-forming Lennard-Jones system which has
20 correlation functions that decay according to the the famous
21 Kohlrausch-Williams-Watts ({\sc kww}) law,
22 \begin{equation}
23 C(t) \approx A \exp\left[-(t/\tau)^{\beta}\right],
24 \label{eq:kww2}
25 \end{equation}
26 where $\tau$ is the characteristic relaxation time for the system.
27
28 Kob and Andersen observed stretched exponential decay of the van Hove
29 correlation function in a system comprising an 80-20 mixture of
30 particles with different well depths $(\epsilon_{AA} \neq
31 \epsilon_{BB})$ and different range parameters $(\sigma_{AA} \neq
32 \sigma_{BB})$.\cite{Kob95a,Kob95b} They found that at low
33 temperatures, the best fitting value for the stretching parameter
34 $\beta$ was approximately $0.8$. The same system was later
35 investigated by Sastry, Debenedetti and Stillinger.\cite{Stillinger98}
36 They observed nearly identical stretching parameters in the time
37 dependence of the self intermediate scattering function
38 $F_{s}(k,t)$.\cite{Hansen86}
39
40 In single component Lennard-Jones systems, the stretching parameters
41 appear to be somewhat lower. Angelani {\em et al.}\cite{Angelani98} have reported
42 $\beta \approx 1/2$ for relatively low temperature Lennard-Jones
43 clusters, and Rabani {\em et al.} have reported similar values for the
44 decay of correlation functions in defective Lennard-Jones crystals.\cite{Rabani99}
45
46 There have been a few recent studies of amorphous metals using fairly
47 realistic potentials and molecular dynamics methodologies. Gaukel and
48 Schober studied diffusion in
49 $\mbox{Zr}_{67}\mbox{Cu}_{33}$,\cite{Gaukel98} and Qi {\em et al.}
50 have looked at the static properties ($g(r)$, $s({\bf k})$, etc.) for
51 alloys of Cu with both Ag and Ni.\cite{Qi99} None of the metallic
52 liquid simulation studies have observed time correlation functions in
53 the super-cooled liquid near $T_{g}$. It would therefore be
54 interesting to know whether these realistic models have the same
55 anomalous time dependence as the Lennard-Jones systems, and if so,
56 whether their stretching behavior is similar to that observed in the
57 two-component Lennard-Jones systems.
58
59 Additionally, bi-metallic alloys present an ideal opportunity
60 to apply the cage-correlation function methodology which was
61 developed to study the hopping rate in supercooled
62 liquids.\cite{Rabani97,Gezelter99,Rabani99,Rabani2000} In particular,
63 it will be used to test two models for diffusion, both of which use
64 hopping times which are easily calculated by observing the long-time
65 decay of the cage correlation function. The two models are Zwanzig's
66 model,\cite{Zwanzig83} which is based on the periodic interruption of
67 harmonic motions around inherent structures, and the Continuous Time
68 Random Walk ({\sc ctrw})
69 model,\cite{Blumen83,Klafter94,Klafter96,Shlesinger99} which can be
70 used to derive transport properties from a random walk on a regular
71 lattice where the time between jumps is non-uniform.
72
73 \section{Theory}
74
75 In this section a brief introduction will be given to the models for
76 diffusion that we will be comparing, as well as a brief description of
77 how one can use the the cage-correlation function to obtain hopping
78 rates in liquids.
79
80 \subsection{Zwanzig's Model}
81 In his 1983 paper~\cite{Zwanzig83} on self-diffusion in liquids,
82 Zwanzig proposed a model for diffusion which consisted of ``cells'' or
83 basins in which the liquid's configuration oscillates until it
84 suddenly finds a saddle point on the potential energy surface and
85 jumps to another basin. This model was based on and supported by
86 simulations done by Stillinger and Weber
87 \cite{Stillinger82,Stillinger83,Weber84,Stillinger85} in which the
88 liquid configurations generated by molecular dynamics were quenched
89 periodically by following the steepest descent path to the nearest
90 local minima on the potential energy surface. Stillinger and Weber
91 found that as their simulations progressed, the quenched
92 configurations were stable for short periods of time and then suddenly
93 jumped (with some re-crossing) to other
94 configurations.\cite{Stillinger83}
95
96 The starting point in Zwanzig's theory is the Green-Kubo
97 formula~\cite{Berne90,Hansen86} for the self-diffusion constant,
98 \begin{equation}
99 D=\frac{1}{3} \int_{0}^{\infty}dt \langle {\bf v}(t) \cdot {\bf v}(0)
100 \rangle,
101 \label{eq:kubo}
102 \end{equation}
103 where $\langle {\bf v}(t) \cdot {\bf v}(0) \rangle$ is the
104 time-dependent velocity autocorrelation function. Zwanzig's model
105 predicts the diffusion constant using $\tau$, the lifetime which
106 characterizes the distribution ($\exp(-t/\tau)$) of residence times in
107 the cells.
108
109 Following a jump, the coherence of the harmonic oscillations is
110 disrupted, so all correlations between velocities will be destroyed
111 after each jump. Zwanzig writes the velocity autocorrelation function
112 in terms of the velocities of the normal modes in the nearest cell.
113 The normal mode frequencies are characterized by the normalized
114 distribution function $\rho(\omega)$, and the time integral can be
115 solved assuming the time dependence of a damped harmonic oscillator
116 for each of the normal modes. In the continuum limit of normal mode
117 frequencies, one obtains
118 \begin{equation}
119 D = \frac{kT}{M}\int_{0}^{\infty} d\omega \rho(\omega)
120 \frac{\tau}{(1 + \omega^{2}\tau^{2})},
121 \label{eq:zwanz}
122 \end{equation}
123 where $M$ is the mass of the particles.
124
125 Zwanzig does not explicitly derive the inherent structure normal modes
126 from the potential energy surface (he used the Debye spectrum for
127 $\rho(\omega)$.) Moreover, the theory avoids the
128 problem of how to estimate the lifetime $\tau$ for cell jumps that
129 destroy the coherent oscillations in the sub-volume. Nevertheless, the
130 model fits the experimental results quite well for the self-diffusion
131 of tetramethylsilane (TMS) and benzene over large ranges in
132 temperature.\cite{Parkhurst75a,Parkhurst75b}
133
134 \subsection{The {\sc ctrw} Model}
135 In the {\sc ctrw}
136 model,\cite{Blumen83,Klafter94,Klafter96,Shlesinger99} random walks
137 take place on a regular lattice but with a distribution of waiting
138 times,
139 \begin{equation}
140 \psi(t) \approx \left\{ \begin{array}{ll}
141 (t/\tau)^{-1-\gamma}, & 0 < \gamma < 1 \\
142 \frac{1}{\tau} e^{-t/\tau}, & \gamma = 1
143 \end{array}
144 \right.,
145 \label{eq:ctrw}
146 \end{equation}
147 between jumps. $\gamma=1$ represents normal transport, while $\gamma
148 < 1$ represents transport in a ``fractal time'' regime. In this
149 regime, the number of jumps grows in time $t$ as $t^\gamma$ and not
150 linearly with time. This dependence implies that the jumps do not
151 possess a well-defined mean waiting time, and that there is no way to
152 define a hopping rate for systems that are operating in the fractal
153 time regime.
154
155 Klafter and Zumofen have derived probability distributions for
156 transport in these systems.\cite{Klafter94} In the $\gamma=1$ limit,
157 they obtain the standard diffusive behavior in which the diffusion
158 constant is inversely proportional to $\tau$ and proportional to the
159 square of the lattice spacing for the random walk ($\sigma_{0}$):
160 \begin{equation}
161 \label{eq:CTRW_diff}
162 D = \frac {\sigma_{0}^{2}} {6\tau}
163 \end{equation}
164 This behavior is also suggested by estimates of $\tau$ in
165 $\mbox{CS}_{2}$ and in Lennard-Jones systems using the cage
166 correlation function.\cite{Gezelter99,Rabani99}
167
168 When $\gamma < 1$, the situation is somewhat more complex. The
169 mean-square displacement can be approximated at long times as
170 \begin{equation}
171 \label{eq:ctrw_msd}
172 \langle r^{2}(t) \rangle =
173 \frac{4 \sigma_{0}^{2}}{3 \sqrt{\pi}}
174 \left(\frac{t}{\tau}\right)^{\gamma}
175 \left(\frac{2-\gamma}{\gamma}\right)^{\gamma}
176 \frac{1}{\left(2-\gamma\right)^{2}} \Gamma(\frac{7}{2} - \gamma).
177 \end{equation}
178 Note that there is no well-defined diffusion constant for transport
179 that behaves according to this expression.
180
181 The waiting time distribution in Eq. (\ref{eq:ctrw}) can be used to
182 derive a sticking probability,
183 \begin{equation}
184 \label{eq:ctrw_phi}
185 \Phi(t) \approx 1 - \int_{0}^{t} dt' \psi(t'),
186 \end{equation}
187 which is the probability of not having made a jump until time t. The
188 long-time behavior of this function should be directly related to the
189 long-time behavior of the cage correlation function, which is
190 essentially a measurement of the fraction of atoms that are still
191 within their initial surroundings. For the $\gamma < 1$ case, the
192 distribution of waiting times in Eq. (\ref{eq:ctrw}) results in
193 sticking probability that decays as $t^{-\gamma}$. This is a very
194 different behavior than the {\sc kww} law (Eq. (\ref{eq:kww2}) that
195 has been observed in the defective Lennard-Jones
196 crystals.\cite{Rabani99}
197
198 Ngai and Liu have asserted that the {\sc kww} decay law
199 (Eq. (\ref{eq:kww2}) cannot be explained through the use of the
200 waiting time distribution in Eq. (\ref{eq:ctrw}).\cite{Ngai81}
201 Instead, they propose a distribution,
202 \begin{equation}
203 \psi(t) = c \alpha t^{\alpha -1} e^{-c t^\alpha}
204 \label{eq:ngai}
205 \end{equation}
206 which can explain the experimentally-observed decay. The form of the
207 waiting time distribution in Eq. (\ref{eq:ctrw}) is more amenable to
208 analytical approaches to calculating transport behavior. Blumen, {\it
209 et al.} have investigated both proposed functional forms for $\psi(t)$
210 for recombination phenomena,\cite{Blumen83} and found that
211 Eq. (\ref{eq:ngai}) leads to time-independent rates at longer times.
212 They conclude that in order to observe anomalous transport, waiting
213 time distributions with pathological long-time tails are required.
214
215 \subsection{The Cage Correlation Function}
216
217 In a recent series of
218 papers,\cite{Gezelter97,Rabani97,Gezelter98a,Gezelter99,Rabani99,Rabani2000}
219 Gezelter {\it et al.} have investigated approaches to calculating the hopping
220 rate ($k_{h} = 1/\tau$) in liquids, supercooled liquids and defective
221 crystals. To obtain this estimate, they introduced the {\it cage
222 correlation function} which measures the rate of change of atomic
223 surroundings, and associate the long-time decay of this function with
224 the basin hopping rate for diffusion. The details on calculating the
225 cage correlation function can be found in Refs. \cite{Rabani97} and
226 \cite{Gezelter99}, but the concept will be briefly reviewed here.
227
228 An atom's immediate surroundings are best described by the list of
229 other atoms in the liquid that make up the first solvation shell.
230 When a diffusive barrier crossing involving the atom has occurred, the
231 atom has left its immediate surroundings. Following the barrier
232 crossing, it will have a slightly different group of atoms surrounding
233 it. If one were able to paint identifying numbers on each of the
234 atoms in a simulation, and kept track of the list of numbers that each
235 atom could see at any time, then the barrier crossing event would be
236 evident as a substantial change in this list of neighbors.
237
238 The cage correlation function uses a generalized neighbor list to keep
239 track of each atom's neighbors. If the list of an atom's neighbors at
240 time $t$ is identical to the list of neighbors at time $0$, the cage
241 correlation function has a value of $1$ for that atom. If any of the
242 original neighbors are {\em missing} at time $t$, it is assumed that
243 the atom participated in a hopping event, and the cage correlation
244 function is $0$. The atom's surroundings can also change due to
245 vibrational motion, but at longer times, the cage will reconstitute
246 itself to include the original members. Only those events which
247 result in irreversible changes to the surroundings will cause the cage
248 to de-correlate at long times. The mathematical formulation of the
249 cage correlation function is given in Refs. \cite{Rabani97} and
250 \cite{Gezelter99}.
251
252 Averaging over all atoms in the simulation, and studying the decay of
253 the cage correlation function gives us a way to measure the hopping
254 rates directly from relatively short simulations. Gezelter {\it et al.} have used the
255 cage correlation function to predict the hopping rates in
256 atomic~\cite{Rabani97} and molecular~\cite{Gezelter99} liquids, as
257 well as in defective crystals.\cite{Rabani99,Rabani2000} In the
258 defective crystals, they found that the cage correlation function, after
259 being corrected for the initial vibrational behavior at short times,
260 decayed according to the {\sc kww} law (Eq. (\ref{eq:kww2})) with a
261 stretching parameter $\beta \approx 1/2$. Angelani {\em et al.} have
262 also reported $\beta \approx 1/2$ for relatively low temperature
263 Lennard-Jones clusters. This is notably different behavior from the
264 correlation functions calculated for the Lennard-Jones mixtures that
265 have been studied by Kob and Andersen,\cite{Kob95a,Kob95b} and Sastry
266 {\em et al.}\cite{Stillinger98} In this system, the stretching
267 parameter was closer to 0.8.
268
269 This paper will concentrate on the use of the cage correlation
270 function to obtain hopping times for use by the Zwanzig and {\sc ctrw}
271 models for diffusion in the $\mbox{Ag}_{6}\mbox{Cu}_{4}$ melt. We are
272 also looking for the presence of anomalous dynamical behavior in the
273 supercooled liquid at temperatures just above the glass transition to
274 confirm the behavior observed in the simpler Lennard-Jones system.
275 Section \ref{metglass:sec:details} will outline the computational methods used
276 to perform the simulations. Section \ref{metglass:sec:results} contains our
277 results, and section \ref{metglass:sec:discuss} concludes.
278
279 \section{Computational Details}
280 \label{metglass:sec:details}
281
282 The Sutton-Chen potential with the same
283 parameterization as Qi {\it et al.}\cite{Qi99} has been chosen for this set of simulations. Details of this potential can be found in section \ref{introSec:tightbind}. This model was chosen over {\sc EAM} because of better experimental agreement with the heat of solution for Ag and Cu alloys and for better prediction of melting point and liquid state properties. This particular parametarization has been shown to reproduce the experimentally available heat of mixing data for both FCC solid solutions of Ag-Cu and the high-temperature liquid.\cite{sheng:184203} In contrast, the {\sc eam} potential does not reproduce the experimentally observed heat of mixing for the liquid alloy.\cite{MURRAY:1984lr}
284
285 In order to study the long-time portions of the correlation functions
286 in this system without interference from the simulation methodology,
287 a set of molecular dynamics simulations in the constant-NVE
288 ensemble was conducted. The density of the system was taken to be $8.742
289 \mbox{g}/\mbox{cm}^3$. This density was chosen immediately to the
290 liquid side of the melting transition from the constant thermodynamic
291 tension simulations of Qi {\it et al.}.\cite{Qi99} Their simulations gave
292 excellent estimates of phase and structural behavior, and should be
293 seen as a starting point for investigations of these materials.
294
295 The equations of motion were integrated using the velocity Verlet
296 integrator with a timestep of 1 fs. A cutoff radius was used in
297 which $r^{cut}_{ij}=2\alpha_{ij}$. Nine independent configurations of
298 500 atoms were generated by starting from an FCC lattice and randomly
299 choosing the identities of the particles to match the
300 $\mbox{Ag}_{6}\mbox{Cu}_{4}$ composition which is near the eutectic
301 composition for this alloy.\cite{Banhart:1992sv}
302
303 Each configuration was started at a temperature of 1350 K (well in
304 excess of the melting temperature at this density) and then cooled in
305 50 K increments to 400 K. At each temperature increment, the systems
306 re-sampled velocities from a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution every ps
307 for 20 ps, then were allowed to equilibrate for 50 ps. Following the
308 equilibration period, particle positions and velocities were collected
309 every ps for 250 ps. The lower temperature runs (375 K, 350 K, 325 K,
310 and 300 K) were sampled for 500 ps, 1 ns, 1 ns and 7 ns respectively
311 to accumulate more accurate long-time statistics. Cooling in this
312 manner leads to a effective quenching rate of approximately 10$^{11}$
313 K/s. This quenching rate is much larger then those that are achieved
314 through experimental methods which typically are on the order of
315 10$^{6}$ or 10$^{7}$ K/s depending on the quenching method.\cite{duwez:1136}
316
317 \section{Results}
318 \label{metglass:sec:results}
319
320 The simulation results were analyzed for several different structural
321 and dynamical properties. Fig \ref{fig:gofr}. shows the pair
322 correlation function,
323 \begin{equation}
324 \label{eq:gofr}
325 g(r) = \frac {V} {N^2} \left \langle \sum _i \sum _{j\ne i}\delta(\mathbf
326 {r-r}_{ij}) \right \rangle,
327 \end{equation}
328 at seven temperatures ranging from liquid to supercooled liquid. The
329 appearance of a split second peak in the radial distribution function
330 has been proposed as a signature of the glass transition.\cite{Nagel96} This
331 behavior is evident in Fig. \ref{fig:gofr} for temperatures below 500
332 K.
333
334 \begin{figure}
335
336 \centering
337 \includegraphics[height=3in]{images/gofr_all.pdf}
338 \caption{Radial distribution functions for Ag$_6$Cu$_4$. The appearance
339 of the split second peak at 500 K indicates the onset of a structural
340 change in the super-cooled liquid at temperatures above $T_{g}$.}
341 \label{fig:gofr}
342 \end{figure}
343
344 Wendt and Abraham have proposed another structural feature to estimate
345 the location of the glass transition. Their measure,
346 \begin{equation}
347 \label{eq:wendt}
348 R_{WA} = \frac {g_{min}} {g_{max}},
349 \end{equation}
350 is the ratio of the magnitude of the first minimum, $g_{min}$ to
351 the first maximum, $g_{max}$ in the radial distribution function.
352 According to their estimates, when the value of $R_{WA}$ reaches 0.14,
353 the system has passed through the glass transition.\cite{Wendt78} A $T_{g}^{WA}$ of 547 K was observed given a cooling rate of $1.56 \times
354 10^{11}$ K/s. Goddard, {\it et al.} observed a $T_g^{WA}\approx 500
355 K$ for a cooling rate of $2\times 10^{12}$ K/s in constant temperature,
356 constant thermodynamic tension (TtN) simulations\cite{Qi99}.
357
358 It should be noted that the split second peak in $g(r)$ appears at $T_g^{WA}$ (Figure \ref{fig:Wendt_abraham}), a temperature for which the diffusion constant is still an appreciable
359 fraction of it's value in the liquid phase. In addition, the
360 diffusive behavior continues at the lowest simulated temperature of
361 300 K indicating that glass transition for our system lies below 300
362 K. Taking the operational definition of the glass transition to be the
363 temperature at which the viscosity exceeds $10^{13}$
364 poise,\cite{Nagel96} it is obvious that neither of these structural
365 factors should be considered a definitive marker of $T_{g}$. It has
366 also been noted in previous papers that changes in these structural
367 factors can occur in certain supercooled metallic liquids
368 independently of glassy behavior.\cite{Lewis91,Liu92} However, both
369 structural features seem to mark the onset of anomalous thermodynamic
370 and dynamical behavior, and should at best be taken as evidence of the
371 location of the mode coupling theory ({\sc mct}) critical temperature,
372 $T_{c}$, and not $T_{g}$ itself.
373 \begin{figure}[htbp]
374 \centering
375 \includegraphics[height=3in]{images/w_a.pdf}
376 \caption{Wendt-Abraham parameter ($R_{WA}$) as a
377 function of temperature. $T^{WA}_{g} \approx$ 540 K for a cooling rate
378 of $1.56 \times 10^{11}$ K/s.}
379 \label{fig:Wendt_abraham}
380 \end{figure}
381
382 In order to compute diffusion constants using Zwanzig's model
383 (Eq. (\ref{eq:zwanz})), one must obtain an estimate of the density of
384 vibrational states ($\rho(\omega)$) of the liquid. $\rho(\omega)$ has been obtained in two different ways, first by quenching twenty
385 high-temperature (1350 K) configurations to the nearest local minimum
386 on the potential energy surface. These structures correspond to
387 inherent structures on the liquid state potential energy surface.
388 Normal modes were then calculated for each of these inherent
389 structures by diagonalizing the mass-weighted Hessian to give the
390 squares of the normal mode frequencies. The second method we used for
391 determining the vibrational density of states was to compute the
392 normalized power spectrum of the velocity autocorrelation function
393 \begin{equation}
394 \label{eq:vcorr}
395 \rho_0(\omega) = \int_{-\infty}^\infty \left \langle \mathbf{v}(t) \cdot
396 \mathbf{v}(0) \right \rangle e^{-i \omega t} dt
397 \end{equation}
398 for trajectories which hover just above the inherent structures. These are displayed in Figure \ref{fig:rho}
399 To calculate the power spectrum, a small amount of kinetic energy (8 K)
400 was given to each of the twenty inherent structures and the system was
401 allowed to equilibrate for 30 ps. After equilibration, the velocity
402 autocorrelation functions were calculated from relatively short (30
403 ps) trajectories and the density of states was obtained from a simple
404 discrete Fourier transform. At this low temperature, the particles do
405 not diffuse, so the velocity correlation function doesn't decay due to
406 hopping. This implies that the Fourier transform of $\langle
407 \mathbf{v}(t) \cdot \mathbf{v}(0) \rangle$ is $0$ at $\omega=0$
408
409 \begin{figure}[htbp]
410 \centering
411 \includegraphics[height=3in]{images/rho.pdf}
412 \caption{Density of states calculated from quenched normal modes,
413 $\rho_q(\omega)$, and from the Fourier transform of the
414 velocity autocorrelation function $\rho_o(\omega)$.}
415 \label{fig:rho}
416 \end{figure}
417
418
419
420
421 Both of these methods result in similar gross features for the density
422 of states, but there are some important differences in their estimates
423 at low frequencies. Notably the normal mode density of states
424 ($\rho_{q}(\omega)$) is missing some of the low frequency modes at
425 frequencies below $10 \mbox{cm}^{-1}$. The power spectrum
426 ($\rho_{0}(\omega)$) recovers these modes, but gives a much noisier
427 estimate for the density of states.
428
429 It was determined that with a radial cutoff of $2 \alpha_{ij}$ the
430 potential (and forces) exhibited a large number of discontinuities
431 which made the minimization into the inherent structures somewhat
432 challenging. In this type of potential, the discontinuities at the
433 cutoff radius {\em cannot} be fixed by shifting the potential as is
434 done with the Lennard-Jones potential. This limitation is due to the
435 non-additive nature of the density portion of the potential function.
436 In order to address this problem, the minimizations and frequencies
437 were obtained with a radial cutoff of $3 \alpha_{ij}$, which provided
438 a surface of adequate smoothness. The larger cutoff radius requires a
439 larger system size, and so for the minimizations and the calculation
440 of the densities of states, we used a total of 1372 atoms.
441
442 It should be noted that one possible way to provide a surface without
443 discontinuities would be to use a shifted form of the density,
444 \begin{equation}
445 \rho_{i}=\sum_{j\neq
446 i}\left(\frac{\alpha_{ij}}{r_{ij}}\right)^{m_{ij}} -
447 \left(\frac{\alpha_{ij}}{r^{cut}_{ij}}\right)^{m_{ij}}.
448 \end{equation}
449 This modification substantially alters the attractive portion of the
450 potential, and has a deleterious effect on the forces. A similar
451 shifting in the Lennard-Jones or other pairwise-additive potential
452 would not exhibit this problem. Although this modification does
453 provide a much smoother potential, it would properly require a
454 re-parameterization of $c_{i}$ and $D_{ii}$, tasks which are outside
455 the purview of the current work.
456
457 \subsection{Diffusive Transport and Exponential Decay}
458
459
460 Translational diffusion constants were calculated via the Einstein
461 relation\cite{Berne90}
462 \begin{equation}
463 \label{eq:einstein}
464 D = \lim _{t \rightarrow \infty} \frac {1} {6t} \left \langle \vert
465 \mathbf {r} _{i} (t) - \mathbf {r} _{i} (0)
466 \vert ^2 \right \rangle
467 \end{equation}
468 using the slope of the long-time portion of the mean square
469 displacement. We show an Arrhenius plot of the natural logarithm of
470 the diffusion constant vs. $1/T$ in Fig. \ref{fig:arrhenius}
471
472 The structural features that we noted previously (i.e. the
473 split-second peak in $g(r)$ and $T_{g}^{WA}$) appear at the same
474 temperature at which the log of the diffusion constant leaves the
475 traditional straight-line Arrhenius plot.
476
477
478 \begin{figure}[htbp]
479 \centering
480 \includegraphics[height=3in]{images/arrhenius.pdf}
481 \caption{Arrhenius plot of the self-diffusion constants indicating
482 significant deviation from Arrhenius behavior at temperatures below 450 K.}
483 \label{fig:arrhenius}
484 \end{figure}
485
486
487
488 Truhlar and Kohen have suggested an interpretation of this type of
489 plot based on Tolman's interpretation of the activation
490 energy.\cite{Truhlar00,Tolman20,Tolman27} Specifically, positive
491 convexity in Arrhenius plots requires the average energy of all
492 diffusing particles rise more slowly then the average energy of all
493 particles in the ensemble with increasing temperature. This only
494 occurs if the microcanonical-ensemble diffusion constant, D(E),
495 decreases with increasing energy. Truhlar and Kohen explain that one
496 possible explanation of this behavior is if configuration space can be
497 decomposed into two types of conformation, one which is ``reactive''
498 in which diffusive hopping occurs with a rate constant of $K_{R}(E)$,
499 and one in which there is no diffusion. If the probability of being
500 found in the reactive region is given by $P_{R}(E)$, then the overall
501 diffusion constant,
502 \begin{equation}
503 \label{eq:truhlar}
504 D(E) = P_{R}(E) K_{R}(E),
505 \end{equation}
506 would allow $P_{R}(E)$ to decrease with $E$ faster than $K_{R}(E)$ can
507 increase. In other words, higher energy systems explore a larger
508 segment of phase space and spend a smaller fraction of their time in
509 regions where there is a probability of diffusive hopping. As the
510 energy is decreased, more time is spent in regions of configuration
511 space where diffusive hopping is allowed so $D(E)$ should increase
512 with decreasing $E$.
513
514 In Fig. \ref{fig:diffplot} we show the diffusion constants calculated
515 via the Einstein relation Eq.(\ref{eq:einstein}) along with results
516 for the Zwanzig and {\sc ctrw} ($\gamma=1$) models using hopping times
517 obtained from simple linear fits to the long-time decay of the cage
518 correlation function. For Zwanzig's model we show results using the
519 two different estimates for the vibrational density of states. For
520 the {\sc ctrw} model, we have used a jump length ($\sigma_0$) of
521 1.016 {\AA} for {\em all} temperatures shown.
522
523 \begin{figure}[htbp]
524 \centering
525 \includegraphics[height=3in]{images/diffplot.pdf}
526 \caption{Self-Diffusion constant for the two models under
527 consideration compared to the values computed via standard techniques.}
528 \label{fig:diffplot}
529 \end{figure}
530
531
532 Zwanzig's model is extremely sensitive to the low-$\omega$ portion of
533 $\rho(\omega)$,\cite{Gezelter99} so it is no surprise that the choice
534 of the density of states gives a large variation in the predicted
535 results. The agreement with the diffusion constants is better at lower
536 temperatures, but an obviously incorrect temperature
537 dependence is observed in the higher temperature liquid regime.
538
539 The {\sc ctrw} model with $\gamma=1$ and an assumption of fixed jump
540 distances gives much better agreement in the liquid regime, and the
541 trend with changing temperature seems to be in excellent agreement
542 with the Einstein relation.
543
544 Delving a bit more deeply into the {\sc ctrw} predictions, it can be
545 assumed that the distribution of hopping times is well behaved
546 (i.e. $\gamma=1$) but that the jump {\it distance} is temperature
547 dependent. To obtain estimates of the jump distance as a function of
548 temperature, $\sigma_0(T)$, we can invert (Eq.(\ref{eq:CTRW_diff})) by
549 multiplying the cage-correlation hopping time by the self-diffusion
550 constant. The temperature-dependent hopping distances is shown in
551 Fig. \ref{fig:r0_ctrw}. Note that these assumptions would lead one to
552 believe that the average jump distance is increasing sharply as one
553 approaches the glass transition, which could be an indicator of motion
554 dominated by Levy flights.\cite{Klafter96,Shlesinger99}
555
556 \begin{figure}[htbp]
557 \centering
558 \includegraphics[height=3in]{images/sig0_ctrw.pdf}
559 \caption{{\sc ctrw} hopping distance, $\sigma_0(T)$, as a function of
560 temperature assuming $\gamma=1$ and using the cage correlation hopping
561 times.}
562 \label{fig:r0_ctrw}
563 \end{figure}
564
565
566 \subsection{Non-Diffusive Transport and Non-Exponential Decay}
567
568
569 A much more realistic scenario is that the distribution of hopping
570 {\it times} changes while the jump distance remains the same at all
571 temperatures. In Figs. \ref{fig:exponent} and
572 \ref{fig:tauhop}, the effects of relaxing the linear fits of
573 $\langle r^{2}(t) \rangle$ and of the long time portion of
574 $ln[C_{cage}(t)]$ are shown. To fit the mean square displacements, a
575 weighted non-linear least-squared fits using the {\sc ctrw} ($\gamma <
576 1$) expression for the mean square displacement
577 (Eq. (\ref{eq:ctrw_msd})) was performed. The only free parameter in the fit is the
578 jump distance, which is fixed at a value of 1.016 \AA, the optimal
579 jump distance for the $\gamma=1$ case. These fits allow estimates of $\gamma$ and the hopping times $\tau$ to be obtained directly from the
580 mean square displacements.
581
582 \begin{figure}[htbp]
583 \centering
584 \includegraphics[height=3in]{images/exponent.pdf}
585 \caption{Comparison of exponential stretching coefficients, $\beta$
586 from the cage-correlation function and $\gamma$ from CTRW theory.}
587 \label{fig:exponent}
588 \end{figure}
589
590
591
592 The cage correlation functions were fit to the {\sc kww} law
593 (Eq. (\ref{eq:kww2})), after correcting for the short-time (i.e. $< 1$
594 ps) vibrational decay. The values of $\gamma$ from the $\langle
595 r^{2}(t) \rangle$ fits are shown with the {\sc kww} stretching
596 parameters in Fig. \ref{fig:exponent}. Note that fits for $\gamma$
597 and the {\sc kww} stretching parameters both begin to show deviation
598 from their more normal high-temperature behavior at approximately the
599 same temperature as the appearance of the structural features
600 ($T_{g}^{WA}$, and the split second peak in $g(r)$) noted above.
601
602 There is a small discrepancy between the stretching parameters
603 ($\beta$) for the {\sc kww} fits and the values of $\gamma$ for the
604 {\sc ctrw} fits to the time dependence of the mean-square
605 displacement. Although there is not enough data to make a firm
606 conclusion, it would appear that there is a small constant offset,
607 \begin{equation}
608 \beta \approx \gamma - a
609 \label{eq:exprel}
610 \end{equation}
611 with $a \approx 0.06$ for this system. This could be due in part to
612 the sensitivity of the cage correlation function to intermediate
613 timescales (i.e. 10-30 ps). Observations at these times will be
614 susceptible to the effects of short-lived inhomogeneities, while the
615 {\sc ctrw} fits (done over timescales from 10 ps - 1 ns) will show
616 only the effects of inhomogeneities which persist for longer times.
617 Since inhomogeneity can lead to the stretching behavior,\cite{Nagel96}
618 the values of the stretching parameter obtained from the longer time
619 fits are the most relevant for understanding the process of
620 vitrification.
621
622 \begin{figure}[htbp]
623 \centering
624 \includegraphics[height=3in]{images/tauhop.pdf}
625 \caption{The characteristic hopping time, $\tau_{hop}$, which
626 characterizes the waiting time distribution. The solid circles
627 represent hopping times predicted from {\sc kww} fits to the
628 cage-correlation function. The open triangles represent the
629 characteristic time calculated via the {\sc ctrw} model for $\langle
630 r^{2}(t) \rangle$.}
631 \label{fig:tauhop}
632 \end{figure}
633
634 In Fig. \ref{fig:tauhop}, the hopping times for both
635 models are shown. As expected, the hopping times diverge as the temperature is
636 lowered closer to the glass transition. There is relatively good
637 agreement between the hopping times calculated via {\sc ctrw} approach
638 with those calculated via the cage correlation function, although the
639 error is as much as a factor of 3 discrepancy at the lowest
640 temperatures.
641
642 \section{Discussion}
643 \label{metglass:sec:discuss}
644
645 It is relatively clear from using the cage correlation function to
646 obtain hopping times that the {\sc ctrw} approach to dispersive
647 transport gives substantially better agreement than Zwanzig's model
648 which is based on interrupted harmonic motion in the inherent
649 structures. The missing piece of the {\sc ctrw} theory is the average
650 hopping distance $\sigma_{0}$. A method for calculating $\sigma_{0}$
651 from short trajectories would make it much more useful for the
652 calculation of diffusion constants in the $\gamma=1$ limit.
653
654 In the low-temperature supercooled liquid, there are substantial
655 deviations from the $\gamma=1$ limit of the theory at temperatures
656 below 500 K. Below this temperature, the mean square displacement
657 cannot be fit well with a linear function in time, and the cage
658 correlation function no longer has a simple exponential decay. In
659 this paper, we have attempted to use the waiting time distribution due
660 to Klafter {\it et
661 al.}\cite{Blumen83,Klafter94,Klafter96,Shlesinger99} The Laplace
662 transform of Eq. (\ref{eq:ctrw}) lends itself to the derivation of an
663 analytical form for the propagator for dispersive
664 transport.\cite{Klafter94} However, it is somewhat troubling that the
665 cage correlation function (which has proven itself to be a good
666 indicator of the average decay of atoms from their initial sites)
667 cannot be fit with a sticking probability that is commensurate with
668 Eq. (\ref{eq:ctrw}).
669
670 Instead, the long-time decay of the cage
671 correlation function has been fit with the more familiar Kohlrausch-Williams-Watts
672 law (Eq. (\ref{eq:kww2})), which appears to be a more accurate model
673 for the sticking probability. This point has been addressed by Ngai
674 and Liu.\cite{Ngai81} It is of some interest that there is a
675 relatively simple relationship between the stretching parameter in the
676 fit to the cage correlation function and the value of $\gamma$ from
677 the {\sc ctrw} model. One hopes that there is some fundamental
678 relationship waiting to be discovered between {\sc kww}-like decay and
679 a {\sc ctrw}-analysis of the propagator for dispersive transport.