Significance of the nature of disorder on the universal features of the spatio-temporal correlations of two-dimensional Coulomb-clusters

We comprehend the role of imperfections arising from different origins on the universal features in materials consisting of interacting particles. Specifically, we report the static and dynamic responses in a cluster of Coulomb particles in two dimensions. Properties associated with melting in confined systems with pinned impurities are studied, and results are compared with those from irregularly trapped system of particles. While the disorder of first type leads to diffusive single-particle dynamics, the motion of a particle in an irregular trap remains chaotic but ballistic. The many-particle system does not differentiate between these two models of disorder insofar as their qualitative properties are concerned—particularly for describing the thermal melting of the underlying Coulomb-“solid”. However, quantitative differences persist and could be observed—the relaxation time scales differ significantly by tuning impurity concentration. Graphic abstract