Exploring the potential energy landscape of glass-forming systems: from inherent structures via metabasins to macroscopic transport
Year: 2008
Type: article
Abstract: In this review a systematic analysis of the potential energy landscape (PEL) of glass-forming systems is presented. Starting from the thermodynamics, the route towards the dynamics is elucidated. A key step in this endeavor is the concept of metabasins. The relevant energy scales of the PEL can be characterized. Based on the simulation results for some glass-forming systems one can formulate a relevant model system (ideal Gaussian glass-former) which can be treated analytically. The macroscopic transport can be related to the microscopic hopping processes, using either the strong relation between energy (thermodynamics) and waiting times (dynamics) or, alternatively, the concepts of the continuous-time random walk. The relation to the geometric properties of the PEL is stressed. The emergence of length scales within the PEL approach as well as the nature of finite-size effects is discussed. Furthermore, the PEL view is compared to other approaches describing the glass transition.
Author: Andreas Heuer
Institution: University of Münster
Language: English
Subfield: Materials Chemistry
Field: Materials Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funder: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Awards: G5071121155, G5976153251
OpenAlex ID: W2166090045