Multiple ordering transitions in a liquid stabilized by low symmetry structures.
We present a numerical study of a lattice model of a liquid characterized by a low-symmetry favored local structure. We find that the freezing point is depressed far enough to reveal an exotic liquid-liquid transition characterized by the appearance of an extended chirality, prior to freezing. The ordered liquid can be readily supercooled to zero temperature, as the combination of critical slowing down and competing crystal polymorphs results in a dramatically slow crystallization process. These results provide an explicit scenario by which the ordering of a liquid can proceed via an intermediate liquid-liquid transition, a scenario that may prove helpful in the analysis of low temperature liquids interacting by more realistic interactions.
Laboratoire de Physique Théorique et Modèles Statistiques, Université Paris-Sud, Bât. 100, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France Département de Physique, École Normale Supérieure, 75005 Paris.
Pierre
P
Ronceray
School of Chemistry, University of Sydney, Sydney N.S.W. 2006, Australia.
Peter
P
Harrowell