Low energy excitation in liquid Sb and liquid Bi observed in inelastic x-ray scattering spectra.

The dynamic structure factorS(Q,E), whereQandEare momentum and energy transfer, respectively, has been measured for liquid Sb, using inelastic x-ray scattering. A modified damped harmonic oscillator model function was applied to analyseS(Q,E) of liquid Sb and also to that of liquid Bi by Inuiet al(2015Phys. Rev.B92, 054206). The obtained excitation energy was in fairly good agreement with that predicted byab initiomolecular dynamics simulations on these liquid semi-metals. The excitation energy of the longitudinal acoustic mode in liquid Sb and liquid Bi exhibits flat-toppedQdependence whereas the lower excitation energy below the longitudinal acoustic excitation showsQ-gap behaviour. From the viscosity estimated from theQ-gap experimentally obtained, it is inferred that the lower energy excitation arises from the transverse acoustic excitation in the liquids.