Analyses of kinetic glass transition in short-range attractive colloids based on time-convolutionless mode-coupling theory

TL;DR

This paper applies time-convolutionless mode-coupling theory (TMCT) to analyze the kinetic glass transition in short-range attractive colloids, successfully reproducing key phenomena and improving critical parameter predictions compared to molecular dynamics.

Contribution

The study demonstrates that TMCT can accurately describe complex glass transition features in attractive colloids, including reentrant behavior and higher-order singularities, with analytical and numerical validation.

Findings

TMCT reproduces glass-liquid-glass reentrant behavior.

TMCT predicts higher-order singularities in colloids.

TMCT improves critical volume fraction estimates.

Abstract

The kinetic glass transition in short-range attractive colloids is theoretically studied by time-convolutionless mode-coupling theory (TMCT). By numerical calculations, TMCT is shown to recover all the remarkable features predicted by the mode-coupling theory for attractive colloids, namely the glass-liquid-glass reentrant, the glass-glass transition, and the higher-order singularities. It is also demonstrated through the comparisons with the results of molecular dynamics for the binary attractive colloids that TMCT improves the critical values of the volume fraction. In addition, a schematic model of three control parameters is investigated analytically. It is thus confirmed that TMCT can describe the glass-glass transition and higher-order singularities even in such a schematic model.