Multiple glasses in asymmetric binary hard spheres

¹ Institut für Materialphysik im Weltraum, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) 51170 Köln, Germany, EU,
² Fachbereich Physik, Universität Konstanz - 78457 Konstanz, Germany, EU and
³ Zukunftskolleg, Universität Konstanz - 78457 Konstanz, Germany, EU

^a thomas.voigtmann@dlr.de

Received: 30 June 2011
Accepted: 19 September 2011

Abstract

Multiple distinct glass states with different dynamic and mechanical properties occur in binary hard-sphere mixtures with constituents of very disparate sizes according to the mode-coupling theory of the glass transition (MCT), distinguished by considering whether small particles remain mobile or not, and whether small particles contribute significantly to perturb the big-particle structure or not. In the idealized case, the four different glasses are separated by well-defined glass and localization transitions that give rise to higher-order singularities involving logarithmic decay laws, and to anomalous power-law–like diffusion.