Spatially Inhomogeneous Bimodal Inherent Structure in Simulated Liquid Water

In the supercooled regime at elevated pressure two forms of liquid water, high-density (HDL) and low-density (LDL), have been proposed to be separated by a coexistence line ending at a critical point, but a connection to ambient conditions has been lacking. Here we perform large-scale molecular dynamics simulations and demonstrate that the underlying potential energy surface gives a strictly bimodal characterization of the molecules at all temperatures as spatially inhomogeneous either LDL- or HDL-like with a 3:1 predominance for HDL at ambient conditions. The Widom line, indicating maximum fluctuations, coincides with a 1:1 distribution. Our results indicate a unified description of liquid water covering supercooled to ambient conditions in agreement with recent x-ray spectroscopy and scattering data.

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