Relaxation processes and entropic traps in the Backgammon model

TL;DR

This paper investigates the relaxation dynamics in a glassy model, revealing a two-step relaxation process, effective temperature concepts, and fluctuation dissipation theorem violations, providing insights into entropy barriers in glassy systems.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of relaxation processes and effective temperature in the Backgammon model, highlighting the role of entropy barriers in glassy dynamics.

Findings

Relaxation occurs in two steps: beta and alpha processes.

Effective temperature can be defined in off-equilibrium dynamics.

Fluctuation dissipation theorem is violated in the model.

Abstract

We examine the density-density correlation function in a model recently proposed to study the effect of entropy barriers in glassy dynamics. We find that the relaxation proceeds in two steps with a fast beta process followed by alpha relaxation. The results are physically interpreted in the context of an adiabatic approximation which allows to separate the two processes, and to define an effective temperature in the off-equilibrium dynamics of the model. We investigate the behavior of the response function associated to the density, and find violations of the fluctuation dissipation theorem.