Stability dependence of local structural heterogeneities of stable amorphous solids

A Shakerpoor and E Flenner and G Szamel, SOFT MATTER, 16, 914-920 (2020).

DOI: 10.1039/c9sm02022e

The universal anomalous vibrational and thermal properties of amorphous solids are believed to be related to the local variations of the elasticity. Recently it has been shown that the vibrational properties are sensitive to the glass's stability. Here we study the stability dependence of the local elastic constants of a simulated glass former over a broad range of stabilities, from a poorly annealed glass to a glass whose stability is comparable to laboratory exceptionally stable vapor deposited glasses. We show that with increasing stability the glass becomes more uniform as evidenced by a smaller variance of local elastic constants. We find that, according to the definition of local elastic moduli used in this work, the local elastic moduli are not spatially correlated.

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