Liquid-liquid phase transition in an atomistic model glass former

Abstract

Whether the glass transition is caused by an underlying singularity or is a purely kinetic phenomenon is a significant outstanding question. Studying an atomistic glass former, we introduce a sampling method to access temperatures corresponding to dynamical regimes usually hard to reach with computer simulation. We find a peak in the specific heat, which we interpret as a drop in the density of states. We further present evidence of a liquid-liquid transition to a state rich in locally favoured structures related to a recently discovered dynamical phase transition.