Thermodynamic and structural interpretations of the undercooled liquid metals

A simple scheme based on pseudopotential and hard sphere results is used to evaluate the specific heat in the undercooled region (T< T_m) and in the higher temperature region (T > T_m) of liquid metals Na, K, Rb and Cs. The structure dependent part of the specific heat is found to increase in the undercooled region (T< T_m) with decreasing temperature and exhibits an inflection at a given temperature (T_I). The results are discussed in the light of energetics and direct correlation function. We have also computed the diffusion coefficients which show T²-dependence in the undercooled region.