Preparation and relaxation of very stable glassy states of a simulated liquid

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a method to prepare highly stable glassy states in a simulated Lennard-Jones system by sampling low-activity trajectories, revealing states that are more rigid and resistant to thermal fluctuations than typical low-temperature glasses.

Contribution

It introduces a trajectory sampling approach to create and analyze highly stable, mechanically rigid glassy states in a simulated model, advancing understanding of glass stability.

Findings

Prepared metastable glassy states with low dynamical activity.

These states are more mechanically rigid than low-temperature equilibrated glasses.

The states show high stability against thermal fluctuations.

Abstract

We prepare metastable glassy states in a model glass-former made of Lennard-Jones particles by sampling biased ensembles of trajectories with low dynamical activity. These trajectories form an inactive dynamical phase whose `fast' vibrational degrees of freedom are maintained at thermal equilibrium by contact with a heat bath, while the `slow' structural degrees of freedom are located in deep valleys of the energy landscape. We examine the relaxation to equilibrium and the vibrational properties of these metastable states. The glassy states we prepare by our trajectory sampling method are very stable to thermal fluctuations and also more mechanically rigid than low-temperature equilibrated configurations.