title: Inhomogeneous elastic response of silica glass.
abstract: Using large scale molecular dynamics simulations we investigate the properties of the nonaffine displacement field induced by macroscopic uniaxial deformation of amorphous silica, a strong glass according to Angell's classification. We demonstrate the existence of a length scale xi characterizing the correlations of this field (corresponding to a volume of about 1000 atoms), and compare its structure to the one observed in a standard fragile model glass. The "boson-peak" anomaly of the density of states can be traced back in both cases to elastic inhomogeneities on wavelengths smaller than xi where classical continuum elasticity becomes simply unapplicable.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physique de la Matière Condensée et des Nanostructures Université Lyon I, CNRS, UMR 5586, 43 Boulevard du 11 Novembre 1918, 69622 Villeurbanne Cedex, France.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Léonforte
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tanguy
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Wittmer
authors.forename: J-L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Barrat