Théorique, numérique
Amorphous solids represent a broad class of materials with physical properties that differ so drastically from crystalline solids that most basic questions about their physical properties are only understood at some crude empirical level. A major challenge is to develop an atomistic understanding of the structural, mechanical, and dynamical properties for this large class of disordered systems, and of the nature of the phase transformation between a slowly cooled liquid and a solid glass. The central objective is to combine two computational methods to separately characterize local mechanical and dynamical properties of deeply supercooled liquids using computer simulations and understand if and how nanoscopic mechanical inhomogeneity can explain the relaxation dynamics of these materials. The ultimate goal of the project is to develop a predictive computational method from which the dynamical properties of a supercooled liquid can be directly inferred by a detailed characterization of its microstructure, thereby fully solving a long-lasting problem in the field of disordered materials.