Numerical Investigation of the Entropy Crisis in Model Glass Formers

TL;DR

This paper uses advanced Monte Carlo simulations to study the behavior of glassy systems at low temperatures, challenging previous claims about a thermodynamic transition at the Kauzmann temperature.

Contribution

It re-examines prior results and investigates new systems to assess the existence of a thermodynamic transition at $T_K$, providing guidance for future studies.

Findings

Previous claims about a transition at $T_K$ are inconclusive.

Numerical results suggest the need to re-evaluate the existence of a thermodynamic transition.

Guidelines for future numerical investigations are proposed.

Abstract

We investigate numerically the low temperature equilibration of glassy systems via non-local Monte Carlo methods. We re-examine several systems that have been studied previously and investigate new systems in order to test the performance of such methods near the putative Kauzmann temperature, $T_K$, where the configurational entropy is presumed to vanish. Our results suggest that previous numerical claims in favor of and against a thermodynamic transition at a finite $T_K$ must be re-evaluated. Our work provides some guidelines and suggestions for future numerical investigations of disordered systems at high densities and low temperatures.