The role of localization in glasses and supercooled liquids

Abstract

Localized excitations (tunneling modes, soft harmonic vibrations) are believed to play a dominant role in the thermodynamics and transport properties of glasses at low temperature. Using instantaneous normal‐mode (INM) analysis, we explore the role that such localization plays in determining the behavior of such systems in the vicinity of the glass transition. Building on our previous study [Phys. Rev. Lett. 74, 936 (1995)] we present evidence that the glass transition in two simple model systems is associated with a transition temperature below which all un‐ stable INM’s become localized. This localization transition is a possible mechanism for the change in diffusion mechanism from continuous flow to localized hopping that is believed to occur in fragile glass formers at a temperature just above T g .