  The melting-like transition in disordered sodium clusters Na_N, with N=92 and
142 is studied by using a first-principles constant-energy molecular dynamics
simulation method. Na_142, whose atoms are distributed in two (surface and
inner) main shells with different radial distances to the center of mass of the
cluster, melts in two steps: the first one, at approx. 130 K, is characterized
by a high intrashell mobility of the atoms, and the second, homogeneous
melting, at approx. 270 K, involves diffusive motion of all the atoms across
the whole cluster volume (both intrashell and intershell displacements are
allowed). On the contrary, the melting of Na_92 proceeds gradually over a very
wide temperature interval, without any abrupt step visible in the thermal or
structural melting indicators. The occurrence of well defined steps in the
melting transition is then shown to be related to the existence of a
distribution of the atoms in shells. Thereby we propose a necessary condition
for a cluster to be considered rigorously amorphouslike (totally disordered),
namely that there are no space regions of the cluster where the local value of
the atomic density is considerably reduced. Na_92 is the only cluster from the
two considered that verifies this condition, so its thermal behavior can be
considered as representative of that expected for amorphous clusters. Na_142,
on the other hand, has a discernible atomic shell structure and should be
considered instead as just partially disordered. The thermal behavior of these
two clusters is also compared to that of icosahedral (totally ordered) sodium
clusters of the same sizes.
