Understanding Chemical Short-Range Order in CoNiV via Mode Analysis

We analyze chemical short-range order in equiatomic fcc NiCoV using molecular-dynamics snapshots generated with a machine-learned interatomic potential. Radial distribution functions identify stable coordination shells, while shell-resolved Warren-Cowley parameters and bond probabilities reveal continued chemical ordering after the radial structure has largely converged. The dominant signal is V-V avoidance in the first shell and V-V enrichment in the second shell, consistent with an L1$_2$-like local ordering tendency, while the third-shell response remains weak. Lagged Jensen-Shannon diagnostics show that bond statistics relax more slowly than the RDF. Principal component analysis of per-replica-centered bond probabilities resolves three collective modes: a V-sublattice ordering amplitude, a Ni-Co redistribution mode, and a Co-V exchange-like mode. These results show that scalar RDF convergence can miss slow chemical relaxation, and that shell-resolved bond statistics provide a compact route for tracking SRO development in multicomponent alloys.