Free volume cannot explain the spatial heterogeneity of Debye–Waller factors in a glass-forming binary alloy

We examine the relation between the free volume per particle and the variance of the particle position, equivalent to a local Debye–Waller (DW) factor for a 2D glass-forming alloy using molecular dynamics simulations. We find that the latter quantity exhibits significant spatial heterogeneity despite involving trajectories two orders of magnitude shorter than those typically used to measure such heterogeneities. We find that the free volume exhibits no significant spatial correlation with the local DW factor. We conclude that the spatial variation in local free volume is not the cause of the short time dynamic heterogeneity.