The high-frequency dynamics of a fragile molecular glass former (dibutylphthalate) was studied through inelastic x-ray scattering (IXS), as a function of pressure and temperature. The mesoscopic structural arrest associated with the glass transition process was tracked by following upon cooling the inelastic excitations at fixed Q points in the dispersion curves, at ambient pressure and 2 kbar. The application of pressure to this system induces an offset between the macroscopic glass transition temperature $T_g$ and the mesoscopic glass transition temperature, as determined from IXS. The concomitant fragility decrease of dibutylphthalate under pressure unveils that the stronger the glass former is, the more its mesoscopic dynamics differ from the macroscopic regime. This trend is interpreted as the signature of a nanoscopic inhomogeneous elastic network. Further aspects of this system are obtained when studying the temperature dependence of its nonergodicity factor $f_Q\mathrm{}\left(T\right).$ The chemical specificity of the molecule is suggested to be responsible for the nonobservation of a critical temperature $T_c$ in dibutylphthalate up to $\sim 300\mathrm{K}.$

• Received 28 May 2002

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.66.031510