One step closer to the ideal glass—simulations reveal hidden order at absolute zero
In the physical sense, glass is not limited to familiar window glass; it forms whenever a liquid is cooled so quickly that it cannot crystallize. As a result, glass has an amorphous structure—that is, its "building blocks" are not arranged regularly as in crystals. At the same time, however, glass is as resistant to deformation as a crystalline solid.
A team of physicists, led by Gerhard Jung from the Department of Theoretical Physics, has made significant progress in understanding the elusive concept of "ideal glass" by simulating the cooling of a two-dimensional liquid. Glass, which forms when a liquid is cooled too quickly to crystallize, is an amorphous structure with particles arranged irregularly, unlike the ordered arrangement in crystals.
However, despite its name, glass exhibits remarkable resistance to deformation akin to crystalline solids. The nature of the transition from liquid to glassy state has been a matter of debate, with some theories suggesting it may be a distinct phase of matter. A hypothetical fourth state of matter, known as the "ideal glass," has been theorized by various approaches.
Confirming its existence experimentally or numerically has proven challenging due to the need for infinitely slow cooling to avoid crystallization. The researchers successfully modeled this process computationally, integrating three different statistical methods to achieve cooling down to absolute zero. This breakthrough allows for direct investigation of the properties of ideal glass.
They discovered that at low temperatures, the number of possible particle configurations becomes extremely limited, resulting in a highly ordered state that appears disordered but is almost as unambiguously defined as a crystal. The study focused on small systems with up to 77 particles, but the findings suggest that as system size increases, the temperature at which the ideal glass forms gets closer to absolute zero.
This implies that in large two-dimensional materials, no finite-temperature transition to glassiness is expected. While the ideal glass remains an unsolved mystery, this research marks a significant step forward in understanding this fascinating phenomenon, bringing theoretical physicists one step closer to answering one of the most intriguing questions in solid-state theory.
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