Structural Glasses and Supercooled Liquids

With contributions from 24 global experts in diverse fields, and edited by world-recognized leaders in physical chemistry, chemical physics and biophysics, Structural Glasses and Supercooled Liquids: Theory, Experiment, and Applications presents a modern, complete survey of glassy phenomena in many systems based on firmly established characteristics of the underlying molecular motions as deduced by first principle theoretical calculations, or with direct/single-molecule experimental techniques. A well-rounded view of a variety of disordered systems where cooperative phenomena, which are epitomized by supercooled liquids, take place is provided. These systems include structural glasses and supercooled liquids, polymers, complex liquids, protein conformational dynamics, and strongly interacting electron systems with quenched/self-generated disorder.

Detailed calculations and reasoned arguments closely corresponding with experimental data are included, making the book accessible to an educated non-expert reader.

Preface vii

Contributors xi

1 Supercooled Liquid Dynamics: Advances and Challenges 1
Ranko Richert

2 The Random First-Order Transition Theory of Glasses: A Critical Assessment 31
Giulio Biroli and Jean-Philippe Bouchaud

3 Dielectric Spectroscopy of Glassy Dynamics 115
P. Lunkenheimer, M. K¨ohler, S. Kastner, and A. Loidl

4 Glasses and Replicas 151
Marc M´ezard and Giorgio Parisi

5 Glassiness in Uniformly Frustrated Systems 193
M. Dzero, J. Schmalian, and Peter G. Wolynes

6 Random First-Order Phase Transition Theory of the Structural Glass Transition 223
T. R. Kirkpatrick and D. Thirumalai

7 Fragile Glass Formers: Evidence for a New Paradigm, and a New Relation to Strong Liquids 237
C. Austen Angell

8 Dynamics in the Crossover Region of Supercooled Liquids 279
Biman Bagchi

9 Glassy Dynamics of Proteins 319
Guo Chen, P. W. Fenimore, and Hans Frauenfelder

10 Theories of Structural Glass Dynamics: Mosaics, Jamming, and All That 341
Vassiliy Lubchenko and Peter G. Wolynes

Index 381

Peter G. Wolynes, PhD, is the D.R. Bullard-Welch Foundation Professor of Science at Rice University. For his work, spanning chemical, biological, and condensed matter physics, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences (USA) and the German Academy of Sciences as well as to the Royal Society of London as a foreign member.

Vassiliy Lubchenko, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of Houston. A recipient of the Beckman Young Investigator Award and Sloan Research Fellowship, Dr. Lubchenko researches optoelectronic anomalies of amorphous materials, dynamics of complex fluids and structural glasses, and aggregation behaviors in protein solutions.

Sets forth a comprehensive and unified understanding of glassy dynamics

Examining theoretical and experimental approaches, this book offers current perspectives on the glass transition as well as relaxations in glassy systems, all based on established characteristics of the underlying molecular motions deduced by first principle theoretical calculations or by direct or single-molecule experimental techniques. The authors examine the broad range of phenomena associated with the structural glass transition. Moreover, they explore a variety of glassy and disordered systems, including structural glasses and supercooled liquids, polymers, complex liquids, protein conformational dynamics, and strongly interacting electron systems with quenched or self-generated disorder.

Ten carefully researched reviews have been written by twenty-four leading pioneers and researchers. These reviews were then carefully edited by two leading experts in physical chemistry, chemical physics, and biophysics. The reviews cover such topics as

• Supercooled liquid dynamics: advances and challenges;

• Dielectric spectroscopy of glassy dynamics;

• Dynamics in the crossover region of supercooled liquids;

• Glassy dynamics of proteins;

• Theories of structural glass dynamics: mosaics and jamming.

Each review is filled with detailed calculations and arguments that are solidly based on the latest experimental data. Extensive references serve as a gateway to the literature.

Structural Glasses and Supercooled Liquids presents a unified paradigm of glassy dynamics that enables chemists, physicists, biologists, chemical engineers, and materials scientists to better understand cooperative phenomena in complex fluids, glasses, polymers, proteins, and strongly interacting electronic systems with disorder.