Correlation between local structure and dynamic heterogeneity in a metallic glass-forming liquid

TL;DR

This study introduces a new structural parameter for metallic liquids that correlates strongly with atomic mobility and dynamic heterogeneity, providing insights into the structural origins of dynamic behavior in metallic glasses.

Contribution

A novel structural parameter is proposed that links local atomic packing to dynamic heterogeneity in metallic glass-forming liquids.

Findings

The new parameter correlates with potential energy and atomic mobility.

It exhibits spatial heterogeneities aligned with dynamic propensities.

Provides direct evidence of structure-dynamics correlation in metallic glasses.

Abstract

Dynamic heterogeneity as one of the most important properties in supercooled liquids has been found for several decades. However, its structural origin remains open for many systems. Here, we propose a new structural parameter to characterize local atomic packing in metallic liquids. It is found that the new parameter in a simulated metallic glass-forming liquid is closely correlated with potential energy and atomic mobility. It also exhibits significant spatial heterogeneities and these structural fluctuations show close correlation with the spatial distribution of the long-time dynamic propensities. Therefore, our results provide a direct evidence of the correlation between atomic structure and dynamical heterogeneity.