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Register a new userGlasses and aging: A Statistical Mechanics Perspective
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We review the field of the glass transition, glassy dynamics and aging from a statistical mechanics perspective. We give a brief introduction to the subject and explain the main phenomenology encountered in glassy systems, with a particular emphasis on spatially heterogeneous dynamics. We review the main theoretical approaches currently available to account for these glassy phenomena, including recent developments regarding mean-field theory of liquids and glasses, novel computational tools, and connections to the jamming transition. Finally, the physics of aging and off-equilibrium dynamics exhibited by glassy materials is discussed.
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We provide a compact derivation of the static and dynamic equations for infinite-dimensional particle systems in the liquid and glass phases. The static derivation is based on the introduction of an auxiliary disorder and the use of the replica method. The dynamic derivation is based on the general analogy between replicas and the supersymmetric formulation of dynamics. We show that static and dynamic results are consistent, and follow the Random First Order Transition scenario of mean field disordered glassy systems.
The majority game, modelling a system of heterogeneous agents trying to behave in a similar way, is introduced and studied using methods of statistical mechanics. The stationary states of the game are given by the (local) minima of a particular Hopfield like hamiltonian. On the basis of a replica symmetric calculations, we draw the phase diagram, which contains the analog of a retrieval phase. The number of metastable states is estimated using the annealed approximation. The results are confronted with extensive numerical simulations.
The existence of a constant density of two-level systems (TLS) was proposed as the basis of some intriguing universal aspects of glasses at ultra-low temperatures. Here we ask whether their existence is necessary for explaining the universal density of states quasi-localized modes (QLM) in glasses at ultra-low temperatures. A careful examination of the QLM that exist in a generic atomistic model of a glass former reveals at least two types of them, each exhibiting a different density of states, one depending on the frequency as $omega^3$ and the other as $omega^4$. The properties of the glassy energy landscape that is responsible for the two types of modes is examined here, explaining the analytic feature responsible for the creations of (at least) two families of QLMs. Although adjacent wells certainly exist in the complex energy landscape of glasses, doubt is cast on the relevance of TLS for the universal density of QLMs.
As shown by early studies on mean-field models of the glass transition, the geometrical features of the energy landscape provide fundamental information on the dynamical transition at the Mode-Coupling temperature $T_d$. We show that active particles can serve as a useful tool for gaining insight into the topological crossover in model glass-formers. In such systems the landmark of the minima-to-saddle transition in the potential energy landscape, taking place in the proximity of $T_d$, is the critical slowing down of dynamics. Nevertheless, the critical slowing down is a bottleneck for numerical simulations and the possibility to take advantage of the new smart algorithms capable to thermalize down in the glass phase is attractive. Our proposal is to consider configurations equilibrated below the threshold and study their dynamics in the presence of a small amount of self-propulsion. As exemplified here from the study of the p-spin model, the presence of self-propulsion gives rise to critical off-equilibrium equal-time correlations at the minima-to-saddles crossover, correlations which are not hindered by the sluggish glassy dynamics.
Understanding the rich spatial and temporal structures in nonequilibrium thermal environments is a major subject of statistical mechanics. Because universal laws, based on an ensemble of systems, are mute on an individual system, exploring nonequilibrium statistical mechanics and the ensuing universality in individual systems has long been of fundamental interest. Here, by adopting the wave description of microscopic motion, and combining the recently developed eigenchannel theory and the mathematical tool of the concentration of measure, we show that in a single complex medium, a universal spatial structure - the diffusive steady state - emerges from an overwhelming number of scattering eigenstates of the wave equation. Our findings suggest a new principle, dubbed the wave thermalization, namely, a propagating wave undergoing complex scattering processes can simulate nonequilibrium thermal environments, and exhibit macroscopic nonequilibrium phenomena.
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