Sommaire:

When the temperature of a supercooled liquid is reduced below its melting point, its relaxation time skyrockets on a small temperature window. An explanation for this phenomenon is still under debate but one of the competing theories (RFOT) predicts the existence of a thermodynamic phase transition at a (Kauzmann) temperature below the experimental glass transition. The order parameter of this putative phase transition is the degree of similarity (or overlap) between a liquid configuration and a reference quenched equilibrium configuration. When a thermodynamic field is coupled to the overlap, a first-order transition line is expected to emerge from the Kauzmann point and to end by a critical point at a higher temperature and finite coupling. I will present computer simulations of a model glass-former in 3 dimensions that support the existence of this critical point and the associated first-order transition line.

Pour plus d'informations, merci de contacter Berthier L.