Effects of quenching rate on liquid-glass transition

A full nonlocal Generalised Model Pseudopotential theory is applied to construct an accurate interatomic potential of liquid sodium. Using molecular dynamics technique, we report simulation results describing the effects of quenching rate on the Wendt-Abraham parameter. By comparing two different quenching rates, we find that the lower cooling rate has the consequence of yielding a lower glass transition temperature in accordance with recent studies of other physical quantities. In addition, our simulated data lend further support to our previous hypothesis of asserting that the Wendt-Abraham parameter (Phys. Rev. Lett. 41 (1978) 1244) satisfies quite well 0.1±0.02 and is valid for any monatomic system. Our structural results also contain such ubiquitous feature as double-peak splitting as to be expected when a liquid makes transition to an amorphous solid. Brief discussion of the physical content of our results will be given also.