Fractal free energy landscapes in structural glasses.

Charbonneau, Patrick

Kurchan, Jorge

Parisi, Giorgio

Urbani, Pierfrancesco

Zamponi, Francesco

England

2016-08-03T15:45:41Z

2014-04-24

Glasses are amorphous solids whose constituent particles are caged by their neighbours and thus cannot flow. This sluggishness is often ascribed to the free energy landscape containing multiple minima (basins) separated by high barriers. Here we show, using theory and numerical simulation, that the landscape is much rougher than is classically assumed. Deep in the glass, it undergoes a 'roughness transition' to fractal basins, which brings about isostaticity and marginal stability on approaching jamming. Critical exponents for the basin width, the weak force distribution and the spatial spread of quasi-contacts near jamming can be analytically determined. Their value is found to be compatible with numerical observations. This advance incorporates the jamming transition of granular materials into the framework of glass theory. Because temperature and pressure control what features of the landscape are experienced, glass mechanics and transport are expected to reflect the features of the topology we discuss here.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24759041

ncomms4725

2041-1723

https://hdl.handle.net/10161/12615

eng

Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Nat Commun

10.1038/ncomms4725

Fractal free energy landscapes in structural glasses.

Journal article

Charbonneau, Patrick|0000-0001-7174-0821

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24759041

3725

Chemistry

Duke

Physics

Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

Published online

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