Random-field-like criticality in glass-forming liquids

Giulio Biroli (1) , Chiara Cammarota (2, 1) , Gilles Tarjus (3) , Marco Tarzia (3)

1 IPHT - Institut de Physique Théorique - UMR CNRS 3681
2 Dipartimento di Fisica [Roma La Sapienza]
3 LPTMC - Laboratoire de Physique Théorique de la Matière Condensée

We introduce an approach to derive an effective scalar field theory for the glass transition; the fluctuating field is the overlap between equilibrium configurations. We apply it to the case of constrained liquids for which the introduction of a conjugate source to the overlap field was predicted to lead to an equilibrium critical point. We show that the long-distance physics in the vicinity of this critical point is in the same universality class as that of a paradigmatic disordered model: the random-field Ising model. The quenched disorder is provided here by a reference equilibrium liquid configuration. We discuss to what extent this field-theoretical description and the mapping to the random field Ising model hold in the whole supercooled liquid regime, in particular near the glass transition.

Domains: Physics [physics]

Giulio Biroli, Chiara Cammarota, Gilles Tarjus, Marco Tarzia. Random-field-like criticality in glass-forming liquids. Physical Review Letters, 2015, 112, pp.175701. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.175701⟩. ⟨cea-01188630⟩