Mode-Coupling Theory of the Glass Transition: A Primer

TL;DR

This paper provides a comprehensive overview of Mode-Coupling Theory (MCT), a first-principles framework explaining the complex dynamics of glass formation, including its predictions, successes, limitations, and recent advancements, especially in active soft matter.

Contribution

It offers a detailed primer on MCT, highlighting recent improvements and its application to non-equilibrium active soft matter, filling gaps in understanding glass transition physics.

Findings

MCT predicts the slowdown of dynamics near the glass transition.

The theory successfully describes many features of glass phenomenology.

Recent extensions improve the applicability of MCT to active matter.

Abstract

Understanding the physics of glass formation remains one of the major unsolved challenges of condensed matter science. As a material solidifies into a glass, it exhibits a spectacular slowdown of the dynamics upon cooling or compression, but at the same time undergoes only minute structural changes. Among the numerous theories put forward to rationalize this complex behavior, Mode-Coupling Theory (MCT) stands out as the only framework that provides a fully first-principles-based description of glass phenomenology. This review outlines the key physical ingredients of MCT, its predictions, successes, and failures, as well as recent improvements of the theory. We also discuss the extension and application of MCT to the emerging field of non-equilibrium active soft matter