Article,
On the Adam-Gibbs-Kirkpatrick-Thirumalai-Wolynes scenario for the viscosity increase in glasses
The Journal of Chemical Physics, 121 (15): 7347--7354 (2004)
DOI: 10.1063/1.1796231
Abstract
We reformulate the interpretation of the mean-field glass transition scenario for finite dimensional systems, proposed by Kirkpatrick, Thirumalai, and Wolynes (KTW) Phys. Rev. A 40 (1989) 1045. This allows us to establish clearly a temperature dependent length ξ∗ above which the mean-field glass transition picture has to be modified. We argue in favor of the mosaic state introduced by KTW, which leads to the Adam-Gibbs relation between the viscosity and configurational entropy of glass forming liquids. Our argument is a mixture of thermodynamics and kinetics, partly inspired by the random energy model: small clusters of particles are thermodynamically frozen in low energy states, whereas large clusters are kinetically frozen by large activation energies. The relevant relaxation time is that of the smallest ” liquid” clusters. Some physical consequences are discussed. \copyright 2004 American Institute of Physics.
