Crystals with low latent heat are predicted to melt from an entropically stabilized body-centered cubic symmetry. At this weakly first-order transition, strongly correlated fluctuations are expected to emerge, which could change the nature of the transition. Here we show how large fluctuations stabilize bcc crystals formed from charged colloids, giving rise to strongly power-law correlated heterogeneous dynamics. Moreover, we find that significant nonaffine particle displacements lead to a vanishing of the nonaffine shear modulus at the transition. We interpret these observations by reformulating the Born-Huang theory to account for nonaffinity, illustrating a scenario of ordered solids reaching a state where classical lattice dynamics fail.
Direct Observation of Entropic Stabilization of bcc Crystals Near Melting / J. Sprakel, A. Zaccone, F. Spaepen, P. Schall, D.A. Weitz. - In: PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS. - ISSN 0031-9007. - 118:8(2017 Feb 24), pp. 088003.088003-1-088003.088003-5.
Titolo: | Direct Observation of Entropic Stabilization of bcc Crystals Near Melting |
Autori: | ZACCONE, ALESSIO (Secondo) |
Settore Scientifico Disciplinare: | Settore FIS/02 - Fisica Teorica, Modelli e Metodi Matematici Settore FIS/03 - Fisica della Materia |
Data di pubblicazione: | 24-feb-2017 |
Rivista: | |
Tipologia: | Article (author) |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI): | http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.088003 |
Appare nelle tipologie: | 01 - Articolo su periodico |
File in questo prodotto:
File | Descrizione | Tipologia | Licenza | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Sprakel et al_PRL2017.pdf | Pre-print (manoscritto inviato all'editore) | Open Access Visualizza/Apri | ||
PhysRevLett.118.088003.pdf | Publisher's version/PDF | Administrator Richiedi una copia |