{
  "annotation_id": "131b7d11-7748-4f43-9ca3-cc1ae12a50e5",
  "date_created": "2026-02-17T05:53:04.936000Z",
  "date_modified": "2026-02-17T05:53:04.936000Z",
  "file_hash": "8afe3bea0c3872a023af5846cc91c7faf6467382aea89c42d1fe78d654b612ff",
  "private": false,
  "record": {
    "abstract": "The splitting of the principal peak in the structure factor of liquid water is commonly interpreted as evidence of a competition between two distinct local environments. Here, we show that this peak splitting arises from medium-range topological features of the hydrogen-bond network. Using atomistic simulations, we systematically decompose the structure factor into contributions from hydrogen-bonded rings of different sizes. We find that 5-8-membered rings, which dominate the network topology of liquid water at low temperatures, can directly explain the experimentally observed bimodal scattering signal. Among these, 5-membered rings are particularly persistent, maintaining distinct structural signatures even above room temperature. Our findings establish a direct link between the network topology of liquid water and experimentally accessible diffraction features, clarifying the microscopic basis of water\u0027s behaviour and suggesting a broader conceptual framework for interpreting the anomalies in tetrahedral network liquids and glasses.",
    "arxiv_id": "2601.05891",
    "authors": [
      "Zo\u00e9 Faure Beaulieu",
      "Volker L. Deringer",
      "Fausto Martelli"
    ],
    "categories": [
      "cond-mat.soft",
      "physics.chem-ph"
    ],
    "license": "http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
    "title": "Topological origin of peak splitting in the structure factor of liquid water",
    "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.05891",
    "version": "v1"
  },
  "schema_id": "dorsal/arxiv",
  "source": {
    "execution_id": "320a7d7e-8081-4dec-869f-4e0ebfcdaf7b",
    "id": "arXiv Dataset",
    "type": "Model",
    "variant": "snapshot-2026-01-17",
    "version": "0.1.0"
  },
  "user_id": 1000002
}