Activated Dynamics and Effective Temperature in a Steady State Sheared Glass

We conduct nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations to measure the shear stress σ, the average inherent structure energy ⟨EIS⟩, and the effective temperature Teff of a sheared model glass as a function of bath temperature T and shear strain rate ̇ γ. For T above the glass transition temperature T₀, the rheology approaches a Newtonian limit and Teff→T as ̇ γ→0, while for T<T₀, σ approaches a yield stress and Teff approaches a limiting value near T₀. In the shear-dominated regime at high T, high ̇ γ or at low T, we find that σ and ⟨EIS⟩ each collapse onto a single curve as a function of Teff. This indicates that Teff is controlling behavior in this regime.