Related papers: Random Isotropic Structures and Possible Glass Tra…
There are deep analogies between the melting dynamics in systems with a first order phase transition and the dynamics from equilibrium in super-cooled liquids. For a class of Ising spin models undergoing a first order transition - namely…
Glassy behavior is one of the main open problems in condensed matter physics. In this thesis, we approach the problem by studying spin-glasses and colloids, using several complementary strategies. From the point of view of model building,…
The glass transition temperature and its connection to statistical properties of confined and free-standing polymer films of varying thickness containing unentangled to highly entangled bead-spring chains are studied by molecular dynamics…
The relaxation of polymers around and below their glass transition temperature is governed by a range of correlated unit processes with a wide range of timescales. The fast deformation rates of shock loading can negate a significant…
When liquids are classified using Tg -scaled Arrhenius plots of relaxation times (or relative rates of entropy increase above Tg) across a "strong-fragile" spectrum of behaviors, the "strong" liquids have always appeared rather…
The idea that a thermodynamic glass transition of some sort underlies the observed glass formation has been highly debated since Kauzmann first stressed the hypothetical entropy crisis that could take place if one were able to equilibrate…
We recently showed that the two-dimensional Ising spin glass allows for a line of renormalization group fixed points which explains properties observed in numerical studies. We observe that this exact result corresponds to enhancement to a…
Recent theories predict that when a supercooled liquid approaches the glass transition, particle clusters with a special "amorphous order" nucleate within the liquid, which lead to static correlations dictating the dramatic slowdown of…
Although several theories relate the steep slowdown of glass formers to increasing spatial correlations of some sort, standard static correlation functions show no evidence for this. We present results that reveal for the first time a…
We use computer simulations to study the thermodynamic properties of a glass former in which a fraction $c$ of the particles has been permanently frozen. By thermodynamic integration, we determine the Kauzmann, or ideal glass transition,…
We present several ordering mechanisms in diblock copolymers. For temperatures above the order-disorder temperature and in the weak segregation regime, a linear response theory is presented which gives the polymer density in the vicinity of…
An analysis of the glass transition of four materials with similar chemical structures is performed: PET, PEN and two PET/PEN blends (90/10 and 70/30 w/w). During the melt processing of the blends transesterification reactions yield block…
Dilute dipolar systems in three dimensions are expected to undergo a spin glass transition as the temperature decreases. Contrary to this, we find from Wang-Landau Monte Carlo simulations that at low concentrations $x$, dipoles randomly…
Glass transition is accompanied by a rapid growth of the structural relaxation time and a concomitant decrease of configurational entropy. It remains unclear whether the transition has a thermodynamic origin, and whether the dynamic arrest…
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,…
We observed a two-step glass transition in monolayers of colloidal ellipsoids by video microscopy. The glass transition in the rotational degree of freedom was at a lower density than that in the translational degree of freedom. Between the…
Disorder in quantum many-body systems can drive transitions between ergodic and non-ergodic phases, yet the nature--and even the existence--of these transitions remains intensely debated. Using a two-dimensional array of superconducting…
We theoretically investigate the glass-transition problem for a quasi-two-dimensional colloidal dense suspension modulated by a one-dimensional periodic external potential as imposed by interfering laser beams. Relying on a mode-coupling…
We discuss the microscopic mechanisms by which low-temperature amorphous states, such as ultrastable glasses, transform into equilibrium fluids, after a sudden temperature increase. Experiments suggest that this process is similar to the…
We study the onset of rigidity near the glass transition (GT) in a short-chain polymer melt modelled by a bead-spring model, where all beads interact with Lennard-Jones potentials. The properties of the system are examined above and below…