{
  "id": "1205.4057",
  "version": "v2",
  "published": "2012-05-17T22:59:46.000Z",
  "updated": "2012-08-30T15:05:28.000Z",
  "title": "Dimensional Study of the Caging Order Parameter at the Glass Transition",
  "authors": [
    "Patrick Charbonneau",
    "Atsushi Ikeda",
    "Giorgio Parisi",
    "Francesco Zamponi"
  ],
  "comment": "6 pages, 4 figures",
  "journal": "PNAS 109, 13939-13943 (2012)",
  "doi": "10.1073/pnas.1211825109",
  "categories": [
    "cond-mat.stat-mech",
    "cond-mat.dis-nn",
    "cond-mat.soft"
  ],
  "abstract": "The glass problem is notoriously hard and controversial. Even at the mean-field level, little is agreed about how a fluid turns sluggish while exhibiting but unremarkable structural changes. It is clear, however, that the process involves self-caging, which provides an order parameter for the transition. It is also broadly assumed that this cage should have a Gaussian shape in the mean-field limit. Here we show that this ansatz does not hold. By performing simulations as a function of spatial dimension, we find the cage to keep a non-trivial form. Quantitative mean-field descriptions of the glass transition, such as mode-coupling theory, density functional theory, and replica theory, all miss this crucial element. Although the mean-field random first-order transition scenario of the glass transition is here qualitatively supported and non-mean-field corrections are found to remain small on decreasing dimension, reconsideration of its implementation is needed for it to result in a coherent description of experimental observations.",
  "revisions": [
    {
      "version": "v2",
      "updated": "2012-08-30T15:05:28.000Z"
    }
  ],
  "analyses": {
    "keywords": [
      "glass transition",
      "caging order parameter",
      "dimensional study",
      "mean-field random first-order transition scenario",
      "density functional theory"
    ],
    "tags": [
      "journal article"
    ],
    "publication": {
      "journal": "Proceedings of the National Academy of Science",
      "year": 2012,
      "month": "Aug",
      "volume": 109,
      "number": 35,
      "pages": 13939
    },
    "note": {
      "typesetting": "TeX",
      "pages": 6,
      "language": "en",
      "license": "arXiv",
      "status": "editable",
      "adsabs": "2012PNAS..10913939C"
    }
  }
}