Skip to main content

The Perfect Glass Paradigm: Disordered Hyperuniform Glasses Down to Absolute Zero

Author(s): Zhang, Ge; Stillinger, Frank H.; Torquato, Salvatore

Download
To refer to this page use: http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/pr1tj8c
Abstract: Rapid cooling of liquids below a certain temperature range can result in a transition to glassy states. The traditional understanding of glasses includes their thermodynamic metastability with respect to crystals. However, here we present specific examples of interactions that eliminate the possibilities of crystalline and quasicrystalline phases, while creating mechanically stable amorphous glasses down to absolute zero temperature. We show that this can be accomplished by introducing a new ideal state of matter called a “perfect glass”. A perfect glass represents a soft-interaction analog of the maximally random jammed (MRJ) packings of hard particles. These latter states can be regarded as the epitome of a glass since they are out of equilibrium, maximally disordered, hyperuniform, mechanically rigid with infinite bulk and shear moduli, and can never crystallize due to configuration-space trapping. Our model perfect glass utilizes two-, three-, and four-body soft interactions while simultaneously retaining the salient attributes of the MRJ state. These models constitute a theoretical proof of concept for perfect glasses and broaden our fundamental understanding of glass physics. A novel feature of equilibrium systems of identical particles interacting with the perfect-glass potential at positive temperature is that they have a non-relativistic speed of sound that is infinite.
Publication Date: Dec-2016
Electronic Publication Date: 28-Nov-2016
Citation: Zhang, G., Stillinger, F.H., Torquato, S. (2016). The Perfect Glass Paradigm: Disordered Hyperuniform Glasses Down to Absolute Zero. Scientific Reports, 6 (1), 10.1038/srep36963
DOI: doi:10.1038/srep36963
EISSN: 2045-2322
Pages: 6:36963, 1-12
Type of Material: Journal Article
Journal/Proceeding Title: Scientific Reports
Version: Final published version. This is an open access article.
Notes: Volume 6, 28 November 2016, Article number 36963



Items in OAR@Princeton are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.