Multiple glassy states in a simple model system.
Experiments, theory, and simulation were used to study glass formation in a simple model system composed of hard spheres with short-range attraction ("sticky hard spheres"). The experiments, using well-characterized colloids, revealed a reentrant glass transition line. Mode-coupling theory calculations and molecular dynamics simulations suggest that the reentrance is due to the existence of two qualitatively different glassy states: one dominated by repulsion (with structural arrest due to caging) and the other by attraction (with structural arrest due to bonding). This picture is consistent with a study of the particle dynamics in the colloid using dynamic light scattering.
Pham
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KN
Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Edinburgh, Mayfield Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JZ, UK.
Puertas
A M
AM
Bergenholtz
J
J
Egelhaaf
S U
SU
Moussaïd
A
A
Pusey
P N
PN
Schofield
A B
AB
Cates
M E
ME
Fuchs
M
M
Poon
W C K
WC