STRUCTURAL AND VIBRATIONAL PROPERTIES OF A SOFT-SPHERE GLASS - INFLUENCE OF THE QUENCHING RATE

Using classical molecular dynamics simulations combined with the Voron oi tessellation we study, at very low temperatures, the phonon spectru m and the geometrical modifications in a model glass as a function of the quenching rate. The shape of the phonon spectrum is not strongly a ffected by a decrease in the quenching rate, except for the minimum pu lsation omega(m), corresponding to the first pseudo-Bragg peak wave-ve ctor, which goes through a marked minimum for the critical quenching r ate at which the onset of crystallization is detected by the geometric al analysis. This decrease in omega(m) can be interpreted as an increa se in structural order in the glass phase when the cooling rate is low ered.