Abstract
Using large scale molecular dynamics simulations we investigate the properties of the nonaffine displacement field induced by macroscopic uniaxial deformation of amorphous silica, a strong glass according to Angell’s classification. We demonstrate the existence of a length scale characterizing the correlations of this field (corresponding to a volume of about 1000 atoms), and compare its structure to the one observed in a standard fragile model glass. The “boson-peak” anomaly of the density of states can be traced back in both cases to elastic inhomogeneities on wavelengths smaller than where classical continuum elasticity becomes simply unapplicable.
- Received 15 December 2005
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.97.055501
©2006 American Physical Society