Single-particle dynamics near the glass transition of a metallic glass

The single-particle dynamics of the glass-forming Cu50Zr50 alloy, from the supercooled liquid well above the glass-transition temperature, T-g to the glassy state, is studied by using the molecular dynamics simulations. When the liquid is cooled below 1.2 T-g, the dynamics heterogeneity characterized by the cage-jump motion becomes increasingly pronounced. The analyses based on the continuous time random walk method indicate that the liquid falls out of equilibrium in the present simulation time scale when it is cooled into the regime below 1.02 T-g. However, we find that the jump length and the jump rate do not display the non-equilibrium behaviors even in the glassy state below Tg, which allows us to study the intrinsic dynamic characteristics through Tg. The mean waiting time between two successive jumps has a rapid growth following the Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann law as the non-equilibrium regime is approached, in analogy with the temperature behaviors of transport properties for fragile supercooled liquids. In contrast, the jump rate maintains the Arrhenius decay and the jump length has even a weaker temperature dependence when the liquid is cooled into glassy state. We find that a pronounced enhancement of the spatial correlation of jumps occurs accompanied by the glass transition: the string-like cooperative jumps dominate the fast motion instead of the uncorrelated and individual jumps. Our work offers an insight into the equilibrium effect of the single-particle dynamics in glass transition.