Atomic motion from the mean square displacement in a monatomic liquid

Autor: Giulia De Lorenzi-Venneri, Duane C. Wallace, Eric D. Chisolm
Rok vydání: 2016
Předmět:
Zdroj: Journal of physics. Condensed matter : an Institute of Physics journal. 28(18)
ISSN: 1361-648X
Popis: V-T theory is constructed in the many-body Hamiltonian formulation, and differs at the foundation from current liquid dynamics theories. In V-T theory the liquid atomic motion consists of two contributions, normal mode vibrations in a single representative potential energy valley, and transits, which carry the system across boundaries between valleys. The mean square displacement time correlation function (the MSD) is a direct measure of the atomic motion , and our goal is to determine if the V-T formalism can produce a physically sensible account of this motion. We employ molecular dynamics (MD) data for a system representing liquid Na, and find the motion evolves in three successive time intervals: On the first "vibrational" interval, the vibrational motion alone gives a highly accurate account of the MD data; on the second "crossover" interval, the vibrational MSD saturates to a constant while the transit motion builds up from zero; on the third "random walk" interval, the transit motion produces a purely diffusive random walk of the vibrational equilibrium positions. This motional evolution agrees with, and adds refinement to, the MSD atomic motion as described by current liquid dynamics theories.
Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures
Databáze: OpenAIRE