Dynamic criticality in glass-forming liquids.
We propose that the dynamics of supercooled liquids and the formation of glasses can be understood from the existence of a zero-temperature dynamical critical point. To support our proposal, we derive a dynamic field theory for a generic kinetically constrained model, which we expect to describe the dynamics of a supercooled liquid. We study this field theory using the renormalization group (RG). Its long time behavior is dominated by a zero-temperature critical point, which for d>2 belongs to the directed percolation universality class. Molecular dynamics simulations seem to confirm the existence of dynamic scaling behavior consistent with the RG predictions.
Whitelam
Stephen
S
Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, University of Oxford, 1 Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3NP, United Kingdom.
Berthier
Ludovic
L
Garrahan
Juan P
JP