Statistical mechanics and dynamics of a three-dimensional glass-forming system.
In the context of a classical example of glass formation in three dimensions, we exemplify how to construct a statistical-mechanical theory of the glass transition. At the heart of the approach is a simple criterion for verifying a proper choice of upscaled quasispecies that allow the construction of a theory with a finite number of "states." Once constructed, the theory identifies a typical scale xi that increases rapidly with lowering the temperature and which determines the alpha-relaxation time tau(alpha) as tau(alpha) approximately exp(muxi/T), with mu a typical chemical potential. The theory can predict relaxation times at temperatures that are inaccessible to numerical simulations.
Lerner
Edan
E
Department of Chemical Physics, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
Procaccia
Itamar
I
Zylberg
Jacques
J