Eur. Phys. J. E (2011) 34: 101
https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2011-11101-1

Regular Article

Correlation between dynamical heterogeneities, structure and potential-energy distribution in a 2D amorphous solid

Fachbereich Physik, Universität Konstanz, D-78457, Konstanz, Germany

^* e-mail: peter.keim@uni-konstanz.de

Received: 28 March 2011
Revised: 19 July 2011
Accepted: 15 August 2011
Published online: 26 September 2011

Abstract

We investigate the collective properties of particles in a 2D experimental system which consists of a bi-disperse mixture of colloidal particles confined at an air/water interface. We find a direct correlation between structure and dynamical heterogeneities in this system: particles belonging to locally ordered structures have lower potential energy and are slower than other particles. In a more general way we show that particles with high potential energy are dominating the dynamics especially in the α-relaxation regime.