Spatio-temporal correlations in Wigner molecules

TL;DR

This study investigates how Coulomb-interacting particles in nano-clusters exhibit complex spatio-temporal correlations and slow relaxation behaviors, blurring the traditional solid-liquid distinction through detailed simulations and modeling.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the slow, stretched exponential relaxation dynamics and correlated motion patterns in Wigner molecules under different conditions.

Findings

Spatial and temporal correlations show slow, stretched exponential relaxation.

Solid-like and liquid-like behaviors are interconnected with long-tail displacement distributions.

A phenomenological model successfully captures the observed dynamics.

Abstract

The dynamical response of Coulomb-interacting particles in nano-clusters are analyzed at different temperatures characterizing their solid- and liquid-like behavior. Depending on the trap-symmetry, both the spatial and temporal correlations undergo slow, stretched exponential relaxations at long times, arising from spatially correlated motion in string-like paths. Our results indicate that the distinction between the `solid' and `liquid' is soft: While particles in a `solid' flow producing dynamic heterogeneities, motion in `liquid' yields unusually long tail in the distribution of particle-displacements. A phenomenological model captures much of the subtleties of our numerical simulations.