Order, frustration, and defects in liquids and glasses

Abstract

A defect description of liquids and metallic glasses is developed. In two dimensions, surfaces of constant negative curvature contain an irreducible density of point disclinations in a hexatic order parameter. Analogous defect lines in an icosahedral order parameter appear in three-dimensional flat space. Frustration in tetrahedral particle packings forces disclination lines into the medium in a way reminiscent of Abrikosov flux lines in a type-II superconductor and of uniformly frustrated spin-glasses. The defect density is determined by an isotropic curvature mismatch, and the resulting singular lines run in all directions. The Frank-Kasper phases of transition-metal alloys are ordered networks of these lines, which, when disordered, provide an appealing model for structure in metallic glasses.