The glass transition of mesoscopic charged particles in two-dimensional confinement is studied by mode-coupling theory. We consider two types of effective interactions between the particles, corresponding to two different models for the distribution
of surrounding ions that are integrated out in coarse-grained descriptions. In the first model, a planar monolayer of charged particles is immersed in an unbounded isotropic bath of ions, giving rise to an isotropically screened Debye-Huckel- (Yukawa-) type effective interaction. The second, experimentally more relevant system is a monolayer of negatively charged particles that levitate atop a flat horizontal electrode, as frequently encountered in laboratory experiments with complex (dusty) plasmas. A steady plasma current towards the electrode gives rise to an anisotropic effective interaction potential between the particles, with an algebraically long-ranged in-plane decay. In a comprehensive parameter scan that covers the typical range of experimentally accessible plasma conditions, we calculate and compare the mode-coupling predictions for the glass transition in both kinds of systems.
We consider the stationary state of a fluid comprised of inelastic hard spheres or disks under the influence of a random, momentum-conserving external force. Starting from the microscopic description of the dynamics, we derive a nonlinear equation of
motion for the coherent scattering function in two and three space dimensions. A glass transition is observed for all coefficients of restitution, epsilon, at a critical packing fraction, phi_c(epsilon), below random close packing. The divergence of timescales at the glass-transition implies a dependence on compression rate upon further increase of the density - similar to the cooling rate dependence of a thermal glass. The critical dynamics for coherent motion as well as tagged particle dynamics is analyzed and shown to be non-universal with exponents depending on space dimension and degree of dissipation.
We investigate the dynamics of a driven system of dissipative hard spheres in the framework of mode-coupling theory. The dissipation is modeled by normal restitution, and driving is applied to individual particles in the bulk. In such a system, a gla
ss transition is predicted for a finite transition density. For increasing inelasticity, the transition shifts to higher densities. Despite the strong driving at high dissipation, the transition persists up to the limit of totally inelastic normal restitution.
