What Lies Between Crystal and Randomly Packed Structures? A General Characterization of Non-Periodic Order

TL;DR

This study characterizes the structure of condensed materials, revealing that most are non-periodic and that a significant portion exhibit structural selectivity, indicating underlying order beyond traditional periodicity.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of over 7000 structures, identifying the prevalence of non-periodic order and introducing the concept of structural selectivity as an ordering principle.

Findings

Over 96% of structures are non-periodic.

Approximately 35% of non-periodic structures are selective and ordered.

Structural selectivity persists at high diversity levels (~9).

Abstract

In this paper we address the characterization of the structure of condensed materials, periodic and non-periodic. Carrying out an extensive study of over 7000 different groundstate structures of a 2D lattice model of binary packing, we find a predominance of non-periodic structures (over 96%) that extend across the entire range of possible diversities. These non-periodic structures are resolved by establishing whether a structure will accommodate or reject additional local structures. This property, structural selectivity, is treated as a signature of an underlying ordering principle. The major result of the paper is the determination that roughly 35% of the non-periodic structures are selective and, hence, ordered in some way. This selectivity extends up to a diversity of ~ 9, well beyond the upper threshold for diversity in periodically ordered states.