Brownian dynamics: from glassy to trivial

TL;DR

This paper compares two different microscopic dynamics in interacting particle systems, showing one leads to glassy behavior while the other results in simple exponential relaxation, challenging assumptions about the link between energy landscapes and dynamics.

Contribution

It introduces a novel comparison of dynamical rules and their effects on glassy versus trivial relaxation, connecting microscopic dynamics with theoretical frameworks like replica theory.

Findings

Standard dynamics induce glassy behavior

Alternative dynamics lead to exponential relaxation

Results question the link between energy landscape and dynamics

Abstract

We endow a system of interacting particles with two distinct, local, Markovian and reversible microscopic dynamics. Using common field-theoretic techniques used to investigate the presence of a glass transition, we find that while the first, standard, dynamical rules lead to glassy behavior, the other one leads to a simple exponential relaxation towards equilibrium. This finding questions the intrinsic link that exists between the underlying, thermodynamical, energy landscape, and the dynamical rules with which this landscape is explored by the system. Our peculiar choice of dynam- ical rules offers the possibility of a direct connection with replica theory, and our findings therefore call for a clarification of the interplay between replica theory and the underlying dynamics of the system.