Stringlike cooperative motion in a supercooled liquid

C. Donati, J. F. Douglas, W. Kob, S. J. Plimpton, P. H. Poole, S. C. Glotzer, Phys Rev Lett, 80, 2338-2341 (1998).

Extensive molecular dynamics simulations are performed on a glass-forming Lennard-Jones mixture to determine the nature of the cooperative motions occurring in this model fragile liquid. We observe stringlike cooperative molecular motion ("strings") at temperatures well above the glass transition. The mean length of the strings increases upon cooling, and the string length distribution is found to be nearly exponential.

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