Glassy dynamics and hysteresis in a linear system of orientable hard rods

TL;DR

This paper models a one-dimensional system of orientable hard rectangles to explore glassy dynamics and hysteresis, revealing how high-density jamming leads to frozen orientations and complex relaxation behaviors.

Contribution

It introduces a simple, analytically tractable model capturing glassy phases and hysteresis in a linear system of orientable hard rods with microscopic facilitation mechanisms.

Findings

Hysteresis observed under cyclic pressure variation

Two-stage decay in orientational persistence after pressure quench

Model exhibits glassy behavior due to jamming at high densities

Abstract

We study the dynamics of a one-dimensional fluid of orientable hard rectangles with a non-coarse-grained microscopic mechanism of facilitation. The length occupied by a rectangle depends on its orientation, which is coupled to an external field. The equilibrium properties of our model are essentially those of the Tonks gas, but at high densities, the orientational degrees of freedom become effectively frozen due to jamming. This is a simple analytically tractable model of glassy phase. Under a cyclic variation of the pressure, hysteresis is observed. Following a pressure quench, the orientational persistence exhibits a two-stage decay characteristic of glassy systems.