Time Scales for transitions between free energy minima of a hard sphere system

Abstract

Time scales associated with activated transitions between glassy metastable states of a free energy functional appropriate for a dense hard sphere system are calculated by using a new Monte Carlo method for the local density variables. We calculate the time the system,initially placed in a shallow glassy minimum of the free energy, spends in the neighborhood of this minimum before making a transition to the basin of attarction of another free energy minimum. This time scale is found to increase with the average density. We find a crossover density near which this time scale increases very sharply and becomes longer than the longest times accessible in our simulation. This scale shows no evidence of dependence on sample size.

25 pages, Revtex, 6 postscript figures. Will appear in Phys Rev E, March 1996 or so

References in corpus (2)

• Scaling behavior in the $\beta$-relaxation regime of a supercooled Lennard-Jones mixture
• Nonlinear Hydrodynamics of a Hard Sphere Fluid Near the Glass Transition

Cited by in corpus (8)

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• Classical density functional theory, unconstrained crystallization, and polymorphic behavior
• Free Energy Landscape Of Simple Liquids Near The Glass Transition
• Signatures of Dynamical Heterogeneity in the Structure of Glassy Free-energy Minima
• Entropic Origin of the Growth of Relaxation Times in Simple Glassy Liquids
• Phase Diagram Of A Hard-sphere System In A Quenched Random Potential: A Numerical Study
• The potential energy landscape and inherent dynamics of a hard-sphere fluid
• An energy landscape model for glass forming liquids in three dimensions