Structure of inactive states of a binary Lennard-Jones mixture

TL;DR

This study investigates the structural characteristics of inactive states in a model glass, revealing their stability, energy landscape position, and weak correlation with local order measures, providing insights into glassy dynamics.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of inactive states in a binary Lennard-Jones mixture, highlighting their stability and structural properties at dynamical phase coexistence.

Findings

Inactive states are kinetically stable and located in deeper energy basins.

Weak correlation between local order measures and energy or stability.

Structural measures may not fully capture dynamical features of inactive states.

Abstract

We study the structure of inactive states in a prototypical model glass, the Kob-Andersen binary Lennard-Jones mixture. These inactive states are obtained by transition path sampling and are at dynamical phase coexistence with an active equilibrium state. Configurations in the inactive states are kinetically stable and are located in deeper basins of the energy landscape than their active counterparts. By analyzing trajectory-to-trajectory fluctuations within the inactive state, we assess correlations between kinetic stability, energy and other structural properties. We show that measures of local order associated to stable local packings and bond-orientational order are weakly correlated with energy and kinetic stability. We discuss what kinds of structural measurement might capture the relevant dynamical features of the inactive state.