No Arabic abstract
Several theories of the glass transition propose that the structural relaxation time {tau}{alpha} is controlled by a growing static length scale {xi} that is determined by the free energy landscape but not by the local dynamical rules governing its exploration. We argue, based on recent simulations using particle-radius-swap dynamics, that only a modest factor in the increase in {tau}{alpha} on approach to the glass transition may stem from the growth of a static length, with a vastly larger contribution attributable instead to a slowdown of local dynamics. This reinforces arguments that we base on the observed strong coupling of particle diffusion and density fluctuations in real glasses
As a guideline for experimental tests of the ideal glass transition (Random Pinning Glass Transition, RPGT) that shall be induced in a system by randomly pinning particles, we performed first-principle computations within the Hypernetted chain approximation and numerical simulations of a Hard Sphere model of glass-former. We obtain confirmation of the expected enhancement of glassy behaviour under the procedure of random pinning, which consists in freezing a fraction $c$ of randomly chosen particles in the positions they have in an equilibrium configuration. We present the analytical phase diagram as a function of $c$ and of the packing fraction $phi$, showing a line of RPGT ending in a critical point. We also obtain first microscopic results on cooperative length-scales characterizing medium-range amorphous order in Hard Spere glasses and indirect quantitative information on a key thermodynamic quantity defined in proximity of ideal glass transitions, the amorphous surface tension. Finally, we present numerical results of pair correlation functions able to differentiate the liquid and the glass phases, as predicted by the analytic computations.
We study the glass and jamming transition of finite-dimensional models of simple liquids: hard- spheres, harmonic spheres and more generally bounded pair potentials that modelize frictionless spheres in interaction. At finite temperature, we study their glassy dynamics via field-theoretic methods by resorting to a mapping towards an effective quantum mechanical evolution, and show that such an approach resolves several technical problems encountered with previous attempts. We then study the static, mean-field version of their glass transition via replica theory, and set up an expansion in terms of the corresponding static order parameter. Thanks to this expansion, we are able to make a direct and exact comparison between historical Mode-Coupling results and replica theory. Finally we study these models at zero temperature within the hypotheses of the random-first-order-transition theory, and are able to derive a quantitative mean-field theory of the jamming transition. The theoretic methods of field theory and liquid theory used in this work are presented in a mostly self-contained, and hopefully pedagogical, way. This manuscript is a corrected version of my PhD thesis, defended in June, 29th, under the advisorship of Frederic van Wijland, and also contains the result of collaborations with Ludovic Berthier and Francesco Zamponi. The PhD work was funded by a CFM-JP Aguilar grant, and conducted in the Laboratory MSC at Universite Denis Diderot--Paris 7, France.
We study numerically spatio-temporal fluctuations during the out-of-equilibrium relaxation of the three-dimensional Edwards-Anderson model. We focus on two issues. (1) The evolution of a growing dynamical length scale in the glassy phase of the model, and the consequent collapse of the distribution of local coarse-grained correlations measured at different pairs of times on a single function using {it two} scaling parameters, the value of the global correlation at the measuring times and the ratio of the coarse graining length to the dynamical length scale (in the thermodynamic limit). (2) The `triangular relation between coarse-grained local correlations at three pairs of times taken from the ordered instants $t_3 leq t_2 leq t_1$. Property (1) is consistent with the conjecture that the development of time-reparametrization invariance asymptotically is responsible for the main dynamic fluctuations in aging glassy systems as well as with other mechanisms proposed in the literature. Property (2), we stress, is a much stronger test of the relevance of the time-reparametrization invariance scenario.
Spin glasses are a longstanding model for the sluggish dynamics that appears at the glass transition. However, spin glasses differ from structural glasses for a crucial feature: they enjoy a time reversal symmetry. This symmetry can be broken by applying an external magnetic field, but embarrassingly little is known about the critical behaviour of a spin glass in a field. In this context, the space dimension is crucial. Simulations are easier to interpret in a large number of dimensions, but one must work below the upper critical dimension (i.e., in d<6) in order for results to have relevance for experiments. Here we show conclusive evidence for the presence of a phase transition in a four-dimensional spin glass in a field. Two ingredients were crucial for this achievement: massive numerical simulations were carried out on the Janus special-purpose computer, and a new and powerful finite-size scaling method.
We report on zero field cooled magnetization relaxation experiments on a concen- trated frozen ferrofluid exhibiting a low temperature superspin glass transition. With a method initially developed for spin glasses, we investigate the field dependence of the relaxations that take place after different aging times. We extract the typical number of correlated spins involved in the aging dynamics. This brings important insights into the dynamical correlation length and its time growth. Our results, consistent with expressions obtained for spin glasses, extend the generality of these behaviours to the class of superspin glasses. Since the typical flipping time is much larger for superspins than for atomic spins, our experiments probe a time regime much closer to that of numerical simulations.