Water is the most abundant liquid on earth and also the substance with the largest number of anomalies in its properties. It is a prerequisite for life and as such a most important subject of current research in chemical physics and physical chemistry. In spite of its simplicity as a liquid, it has an enormously rich phase diagram where different types of ices, amorphous phases, and anomalies disclose a path that points to unique thermodynamics of its supercooled liquid state that still hides many unraveled secrets. In this review we describe the behavior of water in the regime from ambient conditions to the deeply supercooled region. The review describes simulations and experiments on this anomalous liquid. Several scenarios have been proposed to explain the anomalous properties that become strongly enhanced in the supercooled region. Among those, the second critical-point scenario has been investigated extensively, and at present most experimental evidence point to this scenario. Starting from very low temperatures, a coexistence line between a high-density amorphous phase and a low-density amorphous phase would continue in a coexistence line between a high-density and a low-density liquid phase terminating in a liquid–liquid critical point, LLCP. On approaching this LLCP from the one-phase region, a crossover in thermodynamics and dynamics can be found. This is discussed based on a picture of a temperature-dependent balance between a high-density liquid and a low-density liquid favored by, respectively, entropy and enthalpy, leading to a consistent picture of the thermodynamics of bulk water. Ice nucleation is also discussed, since this is what severely impedes experimental investigation of the vicinity of the proposed LLCP. Experimental investigation of stretched water, i.e., water at negative pressure, gives access to a different regime of the complex water diagram. Different ways to inhibit crystallization through confinement and aqueous solutions are discussed through results from experiments and simulations using the most sophisticated and advanced techniques. These findings represent tiles of a global picture that still needs to be completed. Some of the possible experimental lines of research that are essential to complete this picture are explored.

We present a molecular-dynamics study of the self-dynamics of water molecules in deeply supercooled liquid states. We find that the decay of single-particle dynamics correlation functions is characterized by a fast initial relaxation toward a plateau and by a region of self-similar dynamics, followed at late times by a stretched exponential decay. We interpret such results in the framework of the mode-coupling theory for supercooled liquids. We relate the apparent anomalies of the transport coefficients in water on lowering the temperature to the formation of cages and to the associated slow dynamics resulting from the presence of long-lived molecular cages. The so-called critical Angell temperature in supercooled water could thus be interpreted as kinetic glass transition temperature, relaxing the need of a thermodynamic singularity for the explanation of the anomalies of Liquid water

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We present here molecular dynamics simulations of deeply supercooled SPC/E water confined in a cylindrical pore of MCM-41 silica material By a layer analysis of the tag particle density. correlators, we are able to extract the a-relaxation time of the mobile portion of the confined water. This relaxation time is the same as what can be extracted from neutron scattering experiments. From examination of the temperature-dependent behavior of the relaxation time and the dynamic susceptibility, we locate a dynamic crossover at T = (215 +/- 5) K and a corresponding peak in the specific heat, in agreement with experimental findings in confined water and simulations. of the bulk water. Our study demonstrates that the recent results of the experiments on confined water are extremely relevant for the comprehension of low-temperature bulk properties of water

Single particle dynamics of water confined in a nanopore is studied through computer molecular dynamics. The pore is modeled to represent the average properties of a pore of Vycor glass. Dynamics is analyzed at different hydration levels and upon supercooling. At all hydration levels and all temperatures investigated a layering effect is observed due to the strong hydrophilicity of the substrate. The time density correlators show, already at ambient temperature, strong deviations from the Debye and the stretched exponential behavior. Both on decreasing hydration level and upon supercooling we find features that can be related to the cage effect typical of a supercooled liquid undergoing a kinetic glass transition. Nonetheless the behavior predicted by mode coupling theory can be observed only by carrying out a proper shell analysis of the density correlators. Water molecules within the first two layers from the substrate are in a glassy state already at ambient temperature (bound water). The remaining subset of molecules (free water) undergoes a kinetic glass transition; the relaxation of the density correlators agree with the main predictions of the theory. From our data we can predict the temperature of structural arrest of free water. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-9606(00)52248-X]