The boson peak in the vibrational spectra of glasses

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Moriel, Avraham, Lerner, Edan, Bouchbinder, Eran
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
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author Moriel, Avraham
Lerner, Edan
Bouchbinder, Eran
author_facet Moriel, Avraham
Lerner, Edan
Bouchbinder, Eran
contents A hallmark of glasses is an excess of low-frequency, nonphononic vibrations, in addition to phonons. It is associated with the intrinsically nonequilibrium and disordered nature of glasses, and is generically manifested as a THz peak -- the boson peak -- in the ratio of the vibrational density of state (VDoS) and Debye's VDoS of phonons. Yet, the excess vibrations and the boson peak are not fully understood. Here, using reanalysis of experimental data, extensive computer simulations and a mean-field model, we show that the nonphononic part of the VDoS itself features both a universal power-law tail and a peak, entirely accounted for by quasi-localized nonphononic vibrations, whose existence was recently established. We explain the mild variation of the peak's frequency and magnitude with glasses' thermal history, along with the strong variation of the power-law tail. We also show that modes that populate the peak's region feature many coupled quasi-localized nonphononic vibrations, when their spatial structure is considered. Our results provide a unified physical picture of the low-frequency vibrational spectra of glasses, and in particular elucidate the origin, nature and properties of the boson peak.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2304_03661
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The boson peak in the vibrational spectra of glasses
Moriel, Avraham
Lerner, Edan
Bouchbinder, Eran
Disordered Systems and Neural Networks
Materials Science
Soft Condensed Matter
Statistical Mechanics
A hallmark of glasses is an excess of low-frequency, nonphononic vibrations, in addition to phonons. It is associated with the intrinsically nonequilibrium and disordered nature of glasses, and is generically manifested as a THz peak -- the boson peak -- in the ratio of the vibrational density of state (VDoS) and Debye's VDoS of phonons. Yet, the excess vibrations and the boson peak are not fully understood. Here, using reanalysis of experimental data, extensive computer simulations and a mean-field model, we show that the nonphononic part of the VDoS itself features both a universal power-law tail and a peak, entirely accounted for by quasi-localized nonphononic vibrations, whose existence was recently established. We explain the mild variation of the peak's frequency and magnitude with glasses' thermal history, along with the strong variation of the power-law tail. We also show that modes that populate the peak's region feature many coupled quasi-localized nonphononic vibrations, when their spatial structure is considered. Our results provide a unified physical picture of the low-frequency vibrational spectra of glasses, and in particular elucidate the origin, nature and properties of the boson peak.
title The boson peak in the vibrational spectra of glasses
topic Disordered Systems and Neural Networks
Materials Science
Soft Condensed Matter
Statistical Mechanics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2304.03661