Localization, disorder and boson peak in an amorphous solid

Leishangthem Premkumar, Shankar P. Das

Published 2013-03-17Version 1

We demonstrate using the classical density functional theory (DFT) model that an intermediate degree of mass localization in the amorphous state is essential for producing the boson peak. The localization length $\ell$ is identified from the width of the gaussian density profile in terms of which the inhomogeneous density n(x) of the solid is expressed in DFT. At a fixed average density, there exists a limiting value $\ell_0$ of $\ell$ signifying a minimum mass localization in the amorphous state. For more delocalized states ($\ell>\ell_0$) occurrence of boson peak is unfeasible.