Microscopic real-space approach to the theory of metallic glasses

The electronic and transport properties of three metallic glass systems, a-Cu₆₀{Zn}₄₀$, a-${Mg}₇₅Zn₂₅, and a-Ni, are studied by means of realistic microscopic real-space calculations. At low temperature, the transport properties are contrilled by the magnitude and the shape of the conductivity function σE near the Fermi energy. It is shown that for a stable metallic glass the Fermi energy is quite close to a local minimum in σE and this causes the negative temperature coefficient of resistivity which is purely due to the elastic scattering of the conduction electrons from the disordered atoms.