INTERACTION POTENTIALS AND INHERENT STRUCTURES IN LIQUIDS, GLASSES, AND CRYSTALS

摘要

A representation in terms of inherent structures (potential minima) and their basins of attraction provides a convenient means for analyzing condensed-phase equilibrium and irreversible processes. In particular this approach is natural for investigating implications of the potential energy ''rugged landscape'' for glass formation, and its general features lead to formulation of a hypercube model for the collection of inherent structures and their dynamical transitions. A specific realization of this hypercube model exhibits a first-order melting/freezing transition as well as supercooled and superheated metastable states; it also illustrates how artificial Kauzmann temperatures (ideal glass transitions) can seem to arise from limited-range thermodynamic properties. Lists of open mathematical and chemical problems generated by the inherent structure approach terminate the presentation. [References: 29]