English

The Free Energy Surface of Supercooled Water

Statistical Mechanics 2009-10-31 v1

Abstract

We present a detailed analysis of the free energy surface of a well characterized rigid model for water in supercooled states. We propose a functional form for the liquid free energy, supported by recent theoretical predictions [Y. Rosenfeld and P. Tarazona, Mol. Phys. {\bf 95}, 141 (1998)], and use it to locate the position of a liquid-liquid critical point at TC=130±5T_{C'} = 130 \pm 5~K, PC=290±30P_{C'}=290\pm 30MPa, and ρC=1.10±0.03\rho_{C'} = 1.10 \pm 0.03~g/cm3^3. The observation of the critical point strengthens the possibility that SPC/E water may undergo a liquid-liquid phase transition. Finally, we discuss the possibility that the approach to the liquid-liquid critical point could be pre-empted by the glass transition.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0007488,
  title  = {The Free Energy Surface of Supercooled Water},
  author = {A. Scala and F. W. Starr and E. La Nave and H. E. Stanley and F. Sciortino},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0007488},
  year   = {2009}
}