Energetics of local clusters in Cu64.5Zr35.5 metallic liquid and glass

Correlation between the cluster energy and its population and dynamics can provide a better understanding of the complicated energy landscape of disordered metallic systems. We propose a method to analyze the cluster energy distribution for different kinds of short-range order (local clusters) in liquid and glass systems. By applying this analysis to an interesting and important glass forming system—Cu64.5Zr35.5 we observe a direct correlation between the energy and dynamics of the cluster in this realistic glass-forming system. This study suggests that dynamic arrest originates from the environment-dependent energetics of local clusters.