Local symmetry in liquid metals probed by x-ray absorption spectroscopy

The nature of local point symmetry in simple monoatomic liquids has been a fundamental open question for almost 40 years of computational and experimental studies. We present original results of local ordering in different monoatomic liquids obtained by x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), exploiting its high sensitivity to short-range ordering. We used Reverse Monte Carlo (RMC) analysis (RMC-GNXAS package) for obtaining structural models compatible with XAS experimental data (and diffraction techniques for long-range ordering). Pair, bond-angle distributions and suitable indicators for point symmetry are calculated for different liquid metals. (paper)