Static and Dynamic Properties of Two Dimensional Coulomb Clusters

Abstract

We study the temperature dependence of static and dynamic responses of Coulomb interacting particles in two-dimensional traps across the thermal crossover from an amorphous solid- to liquid-like behaviors. While static correlations, that investigate the translational and bond orientational order in the confinements, show the footprints of hexatic-like phase at low temperature, dynamics of the particles slow down considerably in this state -- reminiscent of a supercooled liquid. Using density correlations, we probe intriguing signatures of long-lived inhomogeneities due to the interplay of the irregularity in the confinement and long-range Coulomb interactions. The relaxation at multiple time scales show stretched-exponential decay of spatial correlations in irregular traps. Temperature dependence of characteristic time scales, depicting the structural relaxation of the system, show striking similarities with those observed for the glassy systems indicating that, some of the key signatures of supercooled liquids emerge in confinements with lower spatial symmetries.