Revealing a new scenario of sound damping in amorphous solids by probing glasses with different stabilities

Understanding the difference between universal low-temperature properties of amorphous and crystalline solids requires an explanation of the stronger damping of long-wavelength phonons in amorphous solids. A longstanding sound attenuation scenario, resulting from a combination of experimental, theoretical and simulational studies, leads to a quartic scaling of the attenuation coefficient with the wavevector, called Rayleigh scattering. Modern computer simulations offer conflicting conclusions regarding the validity of this picture. Here, we simulate glasses prepared over an unprecedentedly broad range of glass stabilities, to perform the first microscopic analysis of sound damping in model glass formers with experimentally relevant preparation protocols. We demonstrate the existence of a new sound damping scenario, manifested in a quadratic dependence of the transverse sound attenuation coefficient on the wavevector over a range of wavevectors that becomes more prominent in more stable glasses. Our results uncover an intimate connection between glass stability and sound damping, and challenge existing theories.