Elementary mechanisms governing the dynamics of silica

A full understanding of glasses requires an accurate atomistic picture of the complex activated processes that constitute the low-temperature dynamics of these materials. To this end, we generate over five thousand activated events in a model silica glass, using the activation–relaxation technique; these atomistic mechanisms are analyzed and classified according to their activation energies, their topological properties and their spatial extent. We find that these are collective processes, involving ten to hundreds of atoms with a continuous range of activation energies; that diffusion and relaxation occurs through the creation, annihilation and motion of single dangling bonds; and that silicon and oxygen have essentially the same diffusivity.