Is the nature of glassy dynamics same in 2D as in 3D?

What is it about?

We study if the nature of glassy dynamics is same or different in two and three spatial dimensions. To answer this question, we analyze the relation between dynamics and thermodynamics in different dimensions. We quantify and separate two factors: (i) long-wavelength thermal fluctuations which influence dynamics in two dimensions (2D) but not in three dimensions (3D) and (ii) anharmonicity of vibrational entropy which influence thermodynamics in both. We show that the nature of dynamics is different in 2D from 3D and the long wavelength fluctuation does not rationalize all the differences.

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Photo by Caroline Minor Christensen on Unsplash

Photo by Caroline Minor Christensen on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Studying spatial dimension dependence is a time-tested strategy to gain insights about the physics of glass transition. The present study provides a careful numerical analysis and a benchmark dataset that will be useful to the community to improve upon thermodynamic i.e. entropy based theories of glass transition, namely, the Adam-Gibbs relation and the Random First Order Transition theory.

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