Related papers: Order in glassy systems
We give evidence of a clear structural signature of the glass transition, in terms of a static correlation length with the same dependence on the system size which is typical of critical phenomena. Our approach is to introduce an external,…
The goal of this chapter is to review recent analytical results about the growth of a (static) correlation length in glassy systems, and the connection that can be made between this length scale and the equilibrium correlation time of its…
We study the effect of confinement on glassy liquids using Random First Order Transition theory as framework. We show that the characteristic length-scale above which confinement effects become negligible is related to the point-to-set…
Characterizing the glass state remains elusive since its distinction from a liquid state is not obvious. Glasses are liquids whose viscosity has increased so much that they cannot flow. Accordingly there have been many attempts to define a…
A microscopically motivated theory of glassy dynamics based on an underlying random first order transition is developed to explain the magnitude of free energy barriers for glassy relaxation. A variety of empirical correlations embodied in…
We discuss the response of aging systems with short-range interactions to a class of random perturbations. Although these systems are out of equilibrium, the limit value of the free energy at long times is equal to the equilibrium free…
The static free energy of glassy systems can be expressed in terms of the Parisi order parameter function. When this function has a discontinuity, the location of the step is determined by maximizing the free energy. In dynamics a…
It is often stated that if one is presented with a snapshot of the positions of the molecules of a glass and one of a liquid, one is unable to tell the difference. Here we argue instead that given several such snapshots taken over a…
In off-equilibrium dynamics we define a dynamical correlation length which is proportional to the size of the region in which the atoms move in a correlated way. General arguments indicate that this dynamical correlation length diverges at…
The dramatic dynamic slowing down associated with the glass transition is considered by many to be related to the existence of a static length scale that grows when temperature decreases. Defining, identifying and measuring such a length is…
Using two extremely different models of glass formers in two and three dimensions we demonstrate how to encode the subtle changes in the geometric rearrangement of particles during the scenario of the glass transition. We construct a…
When a liquid is cooled below its melting temperature, if crystallization is avoided, it forms a glass. This phenomenon, called glass transition, is characterized by a marked increase of viscosity, about 14 orders of magnitude, in a narrow…
Glassy systems are characterized by an extremely sluggish dynamics without any simple sign of long range order. It is a debated question whether a correct description of such phenomenon requires the emergence of a large correlation length.…
The dynamical glass transition is typically taken to be the temperature at which a glassy liquid is no longer able to equilibrate on experimental timescales. Consequently, the physical properties of these systems just above or below the…
Relaxation processes are crucial in understanding the structural rearrangements of liquids and amorphous materials. However, the overarching principle that governs these processes across vastly different materials remains an open question.…
Glassiness occurs when disorder and frustration cause local degrees of freedom to freeze despite the lack of long-range order. In systems of interacting bosons, such glassiness may involve a purely quantum degree of…
We investigate the characteristic length scales associated with the glass transition phenomenon. By studying an atomic glass-forming liquid in negatively curved space, for which the local order is well identified and the amount of…
A theoretical analysis [Angelani et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 065702 (2006)] predicts glassy behaviour of light in a nonlinear random medium. This implies slow dynamics related to the presence of many metastable states. We consider very…
Glass materials, as quintessential non-equilibrium systems, exhibit properties such as energy dissipation that are highly sensitive to their preparation histories. A key challenge has been identifying a unified order parameter to…
Glassy systems are ubiquitous in nature, and are characterized by slow relaxations to equilibrium without a typical timescale, aging and memory effects. Understanding these is a long-standing problem in physics. We study the aging of the…