The structural origin of the hard-sphere glass transition in granular packing

Glass transition is accompanied by a rapid growth of the structural relaxation time and a concomitant decrease of configurational entropy. It remains unclear whether the transition has a thermodynamic origin, and whether the dynamic arrest is associated with the growth of a certain static order. Usi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2015-09
Main Authors: Xia, Chengjie, Li, Jindong, Cao, Yixin, Kou, Binquan, Xiao, Xinaghui, Kamel Fezzaa, Xiao, Tiqiao, Wang, Yujie
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Entropy
Fractal geometry
Glass
Nucleation
Phase transitions
Relaxation time
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Glass transition is accompanied by a rapid growth of the structural relaxation time and a concomitant decrease of configurational entropy. It remains unclear whether the transition has a thermodynamic origin, and whether the dynamic arrest is associated with the growth of a certain static order. Using granular packing as a model hard-sphere glass, we show the glass transition as a thermodynamic phase transition with a "hidden" polytetrahedral order. This polytetrahedral order is spatially correlated with the slow dynamics. It is geometrically frustrated and has a peculiar fractal dimension. Additionally, as the packing fraction increases, its growth follows an entropy-driven nucleation process, similar to that of the random first-order transition theory. Our study essentially identifies a long-sought-after structural glass order in hard-sphere glasses.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.1509.08615