Thermodynamic properties of Ag2O--B2O3 glasses by a modified scale-transformed energy space sampling Monte Carlo method

Abstract

The density of states of Ag(2)O--B(2)O(3) glasses has been calculated by using a modified scale-transformed energy space sampling algorithm. This algorithm combines the scale-transformed energy space sampling algorithm and the Wang-Landau method. It is shown how the two algorithms can be combined to improve the efficiency of calculation. The thermodynamic properties, in particular the specific heat C(V), of the above-mentioned glass system is studied. At temperatures above 80 K, the value of specific heat C(v) is close to 22 J/mol/K. At low temperatures, the deviations of C(v) from a T(3) behavior are discernible, that is, C(v)/T(3) exhibits a hump at T = 7 K, which is in good agreement with the reported experimental behavior.