Glassy behaviour of sticky spheres: What lies beyond experimental timescales?

Christopher J. Fullerton (1, 2) , Ludovic Berthier (1, 3)

1 L2C - Laboratoire Charles Coulomb
2 University of Oxford
3 CAM - University of Cambridge [UK]

We use the swap Monte Carlo algorithm to analyse the glassy behaviour of sticky spheres in equilibrium conditions at densities where conventional simulations and experiments fail to reach equilibrium, beyond predicted phase transitions and dynamic singularities. We demonstrate the existence of a unique ergodic region comprising all the distinct phases previously reported, except for a phase-separated region at strong adhesion. All structural and dynamic observables evolve gradually within this ergodic region, the physics evolving smoothly from well-known hard sphere glassy behaviour at small adhesions and large densities, to a more complex glassy regime characterised by unusually-broad distributions of relaxation timescales and lengthscales at large adhesions.

Domaines: Matière Molle [cond-mat.soft]; Systèmes désordonnés et réseaux de neurones [cond-mat.dis-nn]; Mécanique statistique [cond-mat.stat-mech]

Christopher J. Fullerton, Ludovic Berthier. Glassy behaviour of sticky spheres: What lies beyond experimental timescales?. Physical Review Letters, 2020, pp.258004. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.258004⟩. ⟨hal-03093868⟩