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In this paper we present a review on our recent experimental investigations into the phase behavior of the deeply cooled water confined in a nanoporous silica material, MCM-41, with elastic neutron scattering technique. Under such strong confinement, the homogeneous nucleation process of water is avoided, which allows the confined water to keep its liquid state at temperatures and pressures that are inaccessible to the bulk water. By measuring the average density of the confined heavy water, we observe a likely first-order low-density liquid (LDL) to high-density liquid (HDL) transition in the deeply cooled region of the confined heavy water. The phase separation starts from 1.12 +- 0.17 kbar and 215 +- 1K and extends to higher pressures and lower temperatures in the phase diagram. This starting point could be the liquid-liquid critical point of the confined water. The locus of the Widom line is also estimated. The observation of the liquid-liquid transition in the confined water has potential to explain the mysterious behaviors of water at low temperatures. In addition, it may also have impacts on other disciplines, because the confined water system represents many biological and geological systems in which water resides in nanoscopic pores or in the vicinity of hydrophilic or hydrophobic surfaces.

Many of the anomalous properties of water are amplified in the deeply supercooled region. Here we present neutron scattering measurements of the density of heavy water confined in a nanoporous silica matrix MCM-41-S (\approx15 {\AA} pore diameter), namely, the equation of state {\rho}(T,P), in a temperature-pressure range, from 300 K to 130 K and from 1 bar to 2900 bar, where bulk water will crystalize. A sudden change of slope in the otherwise continuous density profile (a "kink") is observed below a certain pressure Pc; however, this feature is absent above Pc. Instead, a hysteresis phenomenon in the density profiles between the warming and cooling scans becomes prominent above Pc. Hence, the data can be interpreted as a line of apparent 2nd-order phase transition at low pressures evolving into a line of 1st-order phase transition at high pressures. If so, the existence of a "tricritical point" at Pc \approx 1500 bar, Tc \approx 210 K becomes another possible scenario to explain the exceptionally rich phase behavior of low-temperature confined water., Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures

We present the self-dynamics of protein amino acids of hydrated lysozyme powder around the physiological temperature by means of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The self-intermediate scattering functions (SISF) of the amino acid residue center-of-mass and of the protein hydrogen atoms display a logarithmic decay over 3 decades of time, from 2 picoseconds to 2 nanoseconds, followed by an exponential alpha-relaxation. This kind of slow dynamics resembles the relaxation scenario within the beta-relaxation time range predicted by the mode coupling theory (MCT) in the vicinity of higher-order singularities. These results suggest a strong analogy between the single-particle dynamics of the protein and the dynamics of colloidal, polymeric and molecular glass-forming liquids., Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures

Recently we have shown experimental evidence for a fragile-to-strong dynamic crossover (FSC) phenomenon in hydration water around a globular protein (lysozyme) at ambient pressure. In this letter we show that when applying pressure to the protein-water system, the FSC crossover temperatures in hydration water of lysozyme tracks the similar Widom line emanating from the existence of a liquid-liquid critical point in a 1-D confined water (in MCM-41-S). The mean squared displacements (MSD) of hydrogen atoms in lysozyme and in its hydration water show a sudden change of slopes at the same characteristic temperature, which decreases with an increasing pressure. These results taken together give support of the idea that the dynamic crossover (or so-called glass transition) of the protein is a function of both temperature and pressure, following the FSC of its hydration water., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures

Experiments in bulk water confirm the existence of two local arrangements of water molecules with different densities, but, because of inevitable freezing at low temperature $T$, can not ascertain whether the two arrangements separate in two phases. To avoid the freezing, new experiments measure the dynamics of water at low $T$ on the surface of proteins, finding a crossover from a non-Arrhenius regime at high $T$ to a regime that is approximately Arrhenius at low $T$. Motivated by these experiments, Kumar et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 105701 (2008)] investigated, by Monte Carlo simulations and mean field calculations, the relation of the dynamic crossover with the coexistence of two liquid phases in a cell model for water and predict that: (i) the dynamic crossover is isochronic, i.e. the value of the crossover time $\tau_{\rm L}$ is approximately independent of pressure $P$; (ii) the Arrhenius activation energy $E_{\rm A}(P)$ of the low-$T$ regime decreases upon increasing $P$; (iii) the temperature $T^*(P)$ at which $\tau$ reaches a fixed macroscopic time $\tau^*\geq \tau_{\rm L}$ decreases upon increasing $P$; in particular, this is true also for the crossover temperature $T_{\rm L}(P)$ at which $\tau=\tau_{\rm L}$. Here, we compare these predictions with recent quasi elastic neutron scattering (QENS) experiments performed by X.-Q. Chu {\it et al.} on hydrated proteins at different values of $P$. We find that the experiments are consistent with these three predictions., Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures, to appear on J. Phys.: Cond. Mat

Small angle neutron scattering (SANS) is used to measure the density of heavy water contained in 1-D cylindrical pores of mesoporous silica material MCM-41-S-15, with pores of diameter of 15+-1 A. In these pores the homogenous nucleation process of bulk water at 235 K does not occur and the liquid can be supercooled down to at least 160 K. The analysis of SANS data allows us to determine the absolute value of the density of D2O as a function of temperature. We observe a density minimum at 210+-5 K with a value of 1.041+-0.003 g/cm3. We show that the results are consistent with the predictions of molecular dynamics simulations of supercooled bulk water. This is the first experimental report of the existence of the density minimum in supercooled water.

High-resolution quasi-elastic neutron scattering spectroscopy was used to measure H2O and D2O hydrated RNA samples. The contribution of scattering from RNA was subtracted out by taking the difference of the signals between the two samples. The measurements were made at a series of temperatures from 270 K down to 180 K. The Relaxing-Cage Model was used to analyze the difference quasi-elastic spectra. We observed clear evidence of a fragile-to-strong dynamic crossover (FSC) at TL = 220 K in RNA hydration water. We further show that the mean-square displacement of the hydrogen atoms in both RNA and its hydration water exhibit a sharp change in slope at approximately the same temperature 220 K. This latter fact suggests that the dynamic transition (or the glass transition) in RNA is triggered by the abrupt change of mobility of the hydration water at its FSC temperature TL., Comment: 2 pages, 3 figures

By confining water in nanopores, so narrow that the liquid cannot freeze, it is possible to explore its properties well below its homogeneous nucleation temperature TH ~ 235 K. In particular, the dynamical parameters of water can be measured down to 180 K approaching the suggested glass transition temperature Tg ~ 165 K. Here we present experimental evidence, obtained from Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and Quasi-Elastic Neutron Scattering spectroscopies, of a well defined decoupling of transport properties (the self-diffusion coefficient and the average translational relaxation time), which implies the breakdown of the Stokes-Einstein relation. We further show that such a non-monotonic decoupling reflects the characteristics of the recently observed dynamic crossover, at about 225 K, between the two dynamical behaviors known as fragile and strong, which is a consequence of a change in the hydrogen bond structure of liquid water., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures

At low temperatures proteins exist in a glassy state, a state which has no conformational flexibility and shows no biological functions. In a hydrated protein, at and above 220 K, this flexibility is restored and the protein is able to sample more conformational sub-states, thus becomes biologically functional. This 'dynamical' transition of protein is believed to be triggered by its strong coupling with the hydration water, which also shows a similar dynamic transition. Here we demonstrate experimentally that this sudden switch in dynamic behavior of the hydration water on lysozyme occurs precisely at 220 K and can be described as a Fragile-to-Strong dynamic crossover (FSC). At FSC, the structure of hydration water makes a transition from predominantly high-density (more fluid state) to low-density (less fluid state) forms derived from existence of the second critical point at an elevated pressure., Comment: 6 pages (Latex), 4 figures (Postscript)

We used high-resolution quasielastic neutron scattering spectroscopy to study the single-particle dynamics of water molecules on the surface of hydrated DNA samples. Both H2O and D2O hydrated samples were measured. The contribution of scattering from DNA is subtracted out by taking the difference of the signals between the two samples. The measurement was made at a series of temperatures from 270 K down to 185 K. The Relaxing-Cage Model was used to analyze the quasielastic spectra. This allowed us to extract a Q-independent average translational relaxation time of water molecules as a function of temperature. We observe clear evidence of a fragile-to-strong dynamic crossover (FSC) at TL = 222+-2 K by plotting log of average translational relaxation time vs. T. The coincidence of the dynamic transition temperature Tc of DNA, signaling the onset of anharmonic molecular motion, and the FSC temperature TL of the hydration water suggests that the change of mobility of the hydration water molecules across TL drives the dynamic transition in DNA., Comment: 4 pages (Latex), 5 figures (Postscript)

By confining water in nano-pores of silica glass, we can bypass the crystallization and study the pressure effect on the dynamical behavior in deeply supercooled state using neutron scattering. We observe a clear evidence of a cusp-like fragile-to-strong (F-S) dynamic transition. Here we show that the transition temperature decreases steadily with an increasing pressure, until it intersects the homogenous nucleation temperature line of bulk water at a pressure of 1600 bar. Above this pressure, it is no longer possible to discern the characteristic feature of the F-S transition. Identification of this end point with the possible second critical point is discussed., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures

Small angle neutron scattering intensity distributions taken from cytochrome C and lysozyme protein solutions show a rising intensity at very small wave vector, Q, which can be interpreted in terms of the presence of a weak long-range attraction between protein molecules. This interaction has a range several times that of the diameter of the protein molecule, much greater than the range of the screened electrostatic repulsion. We show evidence that this long-range attraction is closely related to the type of anion present and ion concentration in the solution.

In this article we study in detail the Q-vector dependence of the collective dynamics in simulated deeply supercooled SPC/E water. The evolution of the system has been followed for 250 ns at low T, allowing a clear identification of a two step relaxation process. We present evidence in favor of the use of the mode coupling theory for supercooled liquid as framework for the description of the slow alpha-relaxation dynamics in SPC/E water, notwithstanding the fact that the cage formation in this system is controlled by the formation of an open network of hydrogen bonds as opposed to packing constraints, as in the case of simple liquids., Comment: rev-tex + 9 figures