Replicated liquid theory in $1+\infty$ dimensions

Abstract

We develop a replicated liquid theory for structural glasses which exhibit spatial variation of physical quantities along one axis, say $z$-axis. The theory becomes exact with infinite transverse dimension $d-1\to \infty$. It provides an exact free-energy functional with space-dependent glass order parameter $\hat{I}{”}_{ab}(z)$. As a first application of the scheme, we study diverging lengths associated with dynamic/static glass transitions of hardspheres with/without confining cavity. The exponents agree with those obtained in previous studies on related mean-field models. Moreover, it predicts a non-trivial spatial profile of the glass order parameter $\hat{I}{”}_{ab}(z)$ within the cavity which exhibits a scaling feature approaching the dynamical glass transition.

38 pages, 4 figures (to appear in The Journal of Chemical Physics)