Structural evidence for the continuity of liquid and glassy water

Abstract

An open question is whether the liquid and glassy phases of water are thermodynamically distinct or continuous. Here we address this question using molecular dynamics simulations in comparison with neutron scattering experiments to study the effect of temperature and pressure on the local structure of liquid water. From both simulations and experiments, we find that the liquid structure at high pressure is nearly independent of temperature, and remarkably similar to the known structure of the high-density amorphous ice (HDA). Further at low pressure, the liquid structure appears to approach the experimentally-measured structure of low-density amorphous ice (LDA) as temperature decreases. These results are consistent with continuity between the liquid and glassy phases of H$_2$O.