15 research outputs found
Thermodynamic picture of the glassy state
A picture for thermodynamics of the glassy state is introduced. It assumes
that one extra parameter, the effective temperature, is needed to describe the
glassy state. This explains the classical paradoxes concerning the Ehrenfest
relations and the Prigogine-Defay ratio. As a second part, the approach
connects the response of macroscopic observables to a field change with their
temporal fluctuations, and with the fluctuation-dissipation relation, in a
generalized non-equilibrium way.Comment: Proceedings of the Conference "Unifying Concepts in Glass Physics",
ICTP, Trieste, 15 - 18 September 199
Ehrenfest relations at the glass transition: solution to an old paradox
In order to find out whether there exists a thermodynamic description of the
glass phase, the Ehrenfest relations along the glass transition line are
reconsidered. It is explained that the one involving the compressibility is
always satisfied, and that the one involving the specific heat is principally
incorrect.
Thermodynamical relations are presented for non-ergodic systems with a
one-level tree in phase space. They are derived for a spin glass model, checked
for other models, and expected to apply, e.g., to glass forming liquids. The
second Ehrenfest relation gets a contribution from the configurational entropy.Comment: 4 pages revtex, to appear in Phys. Rev. Let
Computer Simulations of Supercooled Liquids and Glasses
After a brief introduction to the dynamics of supercooled liquids, we discuss
some of the advantages and drawbacks of computer simulations of such systems.
Subsequently we present the results of computer simulations in which the
dynamics of a fragile glass former, a binary Lennard-Jones system, is compared
to the one of a strong glass former, SiO_2. This comparison gives evidence that
the reason for the different temperature dependence of these two types of glass
formers lies in the transport mechanism for the particles in the vicinity of
T_c, the critical temperature of mode-coupling theory. Whereas the one of the
fragile glass former is described very well by the ideal version of
mode-coupling theory, the one for the strong glass former is dominated by
activated processes. In the last part of the article we review some simulations
of glass formers in which the dynamics below the glass transition temperature
was investigated. We show that such simulations might help to establish a
connection between systems with self generated disorder (e.g. structural
glasses) and quenched disorder (e.g. spin glasses).Comment: 37 pages of Latex, 11 figures, to appear as a Topical Review article
in J. Phys.: Condens. Matte