Is the Stillinger and Weber decomposition relevant for coarsening models?

We study three kinetic models with constraint, namely the Symmetrically Constrained Ising Chain, the Asymmetrically Constrained Ising Chain, and the Backgammon Model. All these models show glassy behavior and coarsening. We apply to them the Stillinger and Weber decomposition, and find that they share the same configurational entropy, despite of their different nonequilibrium dynamics. We conclude therefore that the Stillinger and Weber decomposition is not relevant for this type of models.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figure

Inherent Structures, Configurational Entropy and Slow Glassy Dynamics

We give a short introduction to the inherent structure approach, with particular emphasis on the Stillinger and Weber decomposition, of glassy systems. We present some of the results obtained in the framework of spin-glass models and Lennard-Jones glasses. We discuss how to generalize the standard Stillinger and Weber approach by including the entropy of inherent structures. Finally we discuss why this approach is probably insufficient to describe the behavior of some kinetically constrained models.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures, Contribution to the ESF SPHINX meeting `Glassy behaviour of kinetically constrained models' (Barcelona, March 22-25, 2001

Heat fluctuations of Brownian oscillators in nonstationary processes: fluctuation theorem and condensation transition

We study analytically the probability distribution of the heat released by an ensemble of harmonic oscillators to the thermal bath, in the nonequilibrium relaxation process following a temperature quench. We focus on the asymmetry properties of the heat distribution in the nonstationary dynamics, in order to study the forms taken by the Fluctuation Theorem as the number of degrees of freedom is varied. After analysing in great detail the cases of one and two oscillators, we consider the limit of a large number of oscillators, where the behavior of fluctuations is enriched by a condensation transition with a nontrivial phase diagram, characterized by reentrant behavior. Numerical simulations confirm our analytical findings. We also discuss and highlight how concepts borrowed from the study of fluctuations in equilibrium under symmetry breaking conditions [Gaspard, J. Stat. Mech. P08021 (2012)] turn out to be quite useful in understanding the deviations from the standard Fluctuation Theorem.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figure

Broken ergodicity and glassy behavior in a deterministic chaotic map

A network of $N$ elements is studied in terms of a deterministic globally coupled map which can be chaotic. There exists a range of values for the parameters of the map where the number of different macroscopic configurations is very large, and there is violation of selfaveraging. The time averages of functions, which depend on a single element, computed over a time $T$, have probability distributions that do not collapse to a delta function, for increasing $T$ and $N$. This happens for both chaotic and regular motion, i.e. positive or negative Lyapunov exponent.Comment: 3 pages RevTeX 3.0, 4 figures included (postscript), files packed with uufile

Barriers in the p-spin interacting spin-glass model. The dynamical approach

We investigate the barriers separating metastable states in the spherical p-spin glass model using the instanton method. We show that the problem of finding the barrier heights can be reduced to the causal two-real-replica dynamics. We find the probability for the system to escape one of the highest energy metastable states and the energy barrier corresponding to this process.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

The spherical 2+p2+p spin glass model: an exactly solvable model for glass to spin-glass transition

We present the full phase diagram of the spherical $2+p$ spin glass model with $p\geq 4$. The main outcome is the presence of a new phase with both properties of Full Replica Symmetry Breaking (FRSB) phases of discrete models, e.g, the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model, and those of One Replica Symmetry Breaking (1RSB). The phase, which separates a 1RSB phase from FRSB phase, is described by an order parameter function $q(x)$ with a continuous part (FRSB) for $x<m$ and a discontinuous jump (1RSB) at $x=m$. This phase has a finite complexity which leads to different dynamic and static properties.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Inherent structures and non-equilibrium dynamics of 1D constrained kinetic models: a comparison study

e discuss the relevance of the Stillinger and Weber approach to the glass transition investigating the non-equilibrium behavior of models with non-trivial dynamics, but with simple equilibrium properties. We consider a family of 1D constrained kinetic models, which interpolates between the asymmetric chain introduced by Eisinger and J\"ackle [Z. Phys. {\bf B84}, 115 (1991)] and the symmetric chain introduced by Fredrickson and Andersen [Phys. Rev. Lett {\bf 53}, 1244 (1984)], and the 1D version of the Backgammon model [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 75}, 1190 (1995)]. We show that the configurational entropy obtained from the inherent structures is the same for all models irrespective of their different microscopic dynamics. We present a detailed study of the coarsening behavior of these models, including the relation between fluctuations and response. Our results suggest that any approach to the glass transition inspired by mean-field ideas and resting on the definition of a configurational entropy must rely on the absence of any growing characteristic coarsening pattern.Comment: 32 pages, 28 figures, RevTe

Stochastic Resonance in Deterministic Chaotic Systems

We propose a mechanism which produces periodic variations of the degree of predictability in dynamical systems. It is shown that even in the absence of noise when the control parameter changes periodically in time, below and above the threshold for the onset of chaos, stochastic resonance effects appears. As a result one has an alternation of chaotic and regular, i.e. predictable, evolutions in an almost periodic way, so that the Lyapunov exponent is positive but some time correlations do not decay.Comment: 9 Pages + 3 Figures, RevTeX 3.0, sub. J. Phys.

Lack of self-average in weakly disordered one dimensional systems

We introduce a one dimensional disordered Ising model which at zero temperature is characterized by a non-trivial, non-self-averaging, overlap probability distribution when the impurity concentration vanishes in the thermodynamic limit. The form of the distribution can be calculated analytically for any realization of disorder. For non-zero impurity concentration the distribution becomes a self-averaging delta function centered on a value which can be estimated by the product of appropriate transfer matrices.Comment: 17 pages + 5 figures, TeX dialect: Plain TeX + IOP macros (included

Replica symmetry breaking in long-range glass models without quenched disorder

We discuss mean field theory of glasses without quenched disorder focusing on the justification of the replica approach to thermodynamics. We emphasize the assumptions implicit in this method and discuss how they can be verified. The formalism is applied to the long range Ising model with orthogonal coupling matrix. We find the one step replica-symmetry breaking solution and show that it is stable in the intermediate temperature range that includes the glass state but excludes very low temperatures. At very low temperatures this solution becomes unstable and this approach fails.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure