Year: 2019
Type: article
Abstract: It was recently discovered that SWAP, a Monte Carlo algorithm that involves the exchange of pairs of particles of differing diameters, can dramatically accelerate the equilibration of simulated supercooled liquids in regimes where the normal dynamics is glassy. This spectacular effect was subsequently interpreted as direct evidence against a static, cooperative explanation of the glass transition such as the one offered by the random first-order transition (RFOT) theory. We explain the speedup induced by SWAP within the framework of the RFOT theory. We suggest that the efficiency of SWAP stems from a postponed onset of glassy dynamics. We describe this effect in terms of "crumbling metastability" and use the example of nucleation to illustrate the possibility of circumventing free-energy barriers of thermodynamic origin by a change in the local dynamical rules.
Source: The Journal of Chemical Physics
DOI: 10.1063/1.5086509
Institutions: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université de Montpellier, Laboratoire Charles Coulomb, Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives, Université Paris Sciences et Lettres, Université Paris-Saclay, École Normale Supérieure - PSL, Sorbonne Université, Institut de Physique Théorique, Capital Fund Management (France), Laboratoire de Physique Théorique de la Matière Condensée
Language: English
Subfield: Materials Chemistry
Field: Materials Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2805206147