Topology of vibrational modes predicts plastic events in glasses

Zhen Wei Wu (), Yixiao Chen, Wei-Hua Wang, Walter Kob () and Limei Xu ()
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Zhen Wei Wu: Beijing Normal University
Yixiao Chen: Yuanpei College, Peking University
Wei-Hua Wang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Walter Kob: University of Montpellier and CNRS
Limei Xu: School of Physics, Peking University

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract The plastic deformation of crystalline materials can be understood by considering their structural defects such as disclinations and dislocations. Although also glasses are solids, their structure resembles closely the one of a liquid and hence the concept of structural defects becomes ill-defined. As a consequence it is very challenging to rationalize on a microscopic level the mechanical properties of glasses close to the yielding point and to relate plastic events to structural properties. Here we investigate the topological characteristics of the eigenvector field of the vibrational excitations of a two-dimensional glass model, notably the geometric arrangement of the topological defects as a function of vibrational frequency. We find that if the system is subjected to a quasistatic shear, the location of the resulting plastic events correlate strongly with the topological defects that have a negative charge. Our results provide thus a direct link between the structure of glasses prior their deformation and the plastic events during deformation.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-38547-w

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