Competing structures in a minimal double-well potential model of condensed matter

The microscopic structure of several amorphous substances often reveals complex patterns such as medium- or long-range order, spatial heterogeneity, and even local polycrystallinity. To capture all these features, models usually incorporate a refined description of the particle interaction that includes an ad hoc design of the inside of the system constituents, and use temperature as a control parameter. We show that all these features can emerge from a minimal athermal two-dimensional model where particles interact isotropically by a double-well potential, which includes an excluded volume and a maximum coordination number. The rich variety of structural patterns shown by this simple geometrical model apply to a wide range of real systems including water, silicon, and different amorphous materials.

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