Control of thermodynamic liquid-liquid phase transition in a fragility- tunable glassy model

HR Qin and CS Lee and YJ Lü, PHYSICAL REVIEW E, 108, 055301 (2023).

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.108.055301

We propose a distinguishable-particle glassy model suitable for the molecular dynamics simulation of structural glasses. This model can sensitively tune the kinetic fragility of supercooled liquids in a wide range by simply changing the distribution of particle interactions. In the model liquid, we observe the occurrence of thermodynamic liquid- liquid phase transitions above glass transition. The phase transition is facilitated by lowering fragility. Prior to the liquid-liquid phase transition, our simulations verify the existence of a constant-volume heat capacity maximum varying with fragility. We reveal the characteristics of the equilibrium potential energy landscape in liquids with different fragility. Within the Gaussian excitation model, the liquid-liquid transition as well as the response to fragility is reasonably interpreted in configuration space.

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