Coarse-grained microscopic model of glass formers

TL;DR

This paper presents a coarse-grained microscopic model for atomic glass formers that captures the transition from hierarchical super-Arrhenius to diffusive Arrhenius dynamics, providing a new interpretative framework for supercooled fluids near glass transitions.

Contribution

The model introduces physically motivated local dynamical rules and predicts a crossover in dynamics, offering a novel perspective distinct from existing theories.

Findings

Predicts crossover from hierarchical to diffusive dynamics

Aligns with experimental behaviors of supercooled fluids

Distinguishes from other glass transition models

Abstract

We introduce a coarse-grained model for atomic glass formers. Its elements are physically motivated local microscopic dynamical rules parameterized by observables. Results of the model are established and used to interpret the measured behaviors of supercooled fluids approaching glass transitions. The model predicts the presence of a crossover from hierarchical super-Arrhenius dynamics at short length scales to diffusive Arrhenius dynamics at large length scales. This prediction distinguishes our model from other theories of glass formers and can be tested by experiment.