2004/10/31 by Robert L. Jack, Juan P. Garrahan, David C. Sherrington +1
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Liquid Crystal Research Advancements #Material Dynamics and Properties #Theoretical and Computational Physics #cond-mat.stat-mech
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreve.71.036112
published as Phys. Rev. E 71, 036112 (2005) · 11 pages
openalex publication_date 2005/03/11 · arxiv created 2005/03/17 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We show that applying simple dynamical rules to Baxter's eight-vertex model leads to a system which resembles a glass-forming liquid. There are analogies with liquid, supercooled liquid, glassy, and crystalline states. The disordered phases exhibit strong dynamical heterogeneity at low temperatures, which may be described in terms of an emergent mobility field. Their dynamics are well described by a simple model with trivial thermodynamics, but an emergent kinetic constraint. We show that the (second order) thermodynamic transition to the ordered phase may be interpreted in terms of confinement of the excitations in the mobility field. We also describe the aging of disordered states toward the ordered phase, in terms of simple rate equations.