Energy and entropy of metastable states in glassy systems

¹ Institut für Anorganische Chemie, Universität Bonn Gerhard-Domagk-Str. 1, D-53121 Bonn, Germany
² Department of Physics, Odense Universitet Campusvej 55, DK-5230 Odense M, Denmark

Received: 2 August 1999
Accepted: 8 November 1999

Abstract

We investigate the multi-valley energy landscape of a 3-D on-lattice network model for covalent glasses, numerically determining the shape of the valleys, the local density of states, the density of minima and the local connectivity. We present some of these quantities in a graphical birds-eye view of the landscape, and discuss their implications for the relaxation dynamics and cooling behavior of glasses. The strong similarities between the landscape of this model and those of other complex systems point to the possibility of a common low-temperature dynamical description.