title: Cluster Glasses of Semiflexible Ring Polymers.
abstract: We present computer simulations of concentrated solutions of unknotted nonconcatenated semiflexible ring polymers. Unlike in their flexible counterparts, shrinking involves a strong energetic penalty, favoring interpenetration and clustering of the rings. We investigate the slow dynamics of the centers-of-mass of the rings in the amorphous cluster phase, consisting of disordered columns of oblate rings penetrated by bundles of prolate ones. Scattering functions reveal a striking decoupling of self- and collective motions. Correlations between centers-of-mass exhibit slow relaxation, as expected for an incipient glass transition, indicating the dynamic arrest of the cluster positions. However, self-correlations decay at much shorter time scales. This feature is a manifestation of the fast, continuous exchange and diffusion of the individual rings over the matrix of clusters. Our results reveal a novel scenario of glass formation in a simple monodisperse system, characterized by self-collective decoupling, soft caging, and mild dynamic heterogeneity.
authors.affiliation: Donostia International Physics Center , Paseo Manuel de Lardizabal 4, E-20018 San Sebastián, Spain.
authors.forename: Mohammed Zakaria
authors.initials: MZ
authors.lastname: Slimani
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física de Materiales, Universidad del País Vasco (UPV/EHU) , Apartado 1072, E-20080 San Sebastián, Spain ; Materials Physics Center MPC , Paseo Manuel de Lardizabal 5, E-20018 San Sebastián, Spain.
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bacova
authors.affiliation: Donostia International Physics Center , Paseo Manuel de Lardizabal 4, E-20018 San Sebastián, Spain ; Departament de Fisica Fonamental, Universitat de Barcelona , Martí i Franquès 1, E-08028 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bernabei
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna , Boltzmanngasse 5, A-1090 Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Arturo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Narros
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna , Boltzmanngasse 5, A-1090 Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Christos N
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Likos
authors.affiliation: Donostia International Physics Center , Paseo Manuel de Lardizabal 4, E-20018 San Sebastián, Spain ; Materials Physics Center MPC , Paseo Manuel de Lardizabal 5, E-20018 San Sebastián, Spain ; Centro de Física de Materiales (CSIC, UPV/EHU) , Paseo Manuel de Lardizabal 5, E-20018 San Sebastián, Spain.
authors.forename: Angel J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Moreno
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