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Updated: Jul 7, 2026

Cooling Rate Dependent Ellipsometry Measurements to Determine the Dynamics of Thin Glassy Films
Published on: January 26, 2016
Steady-state, effective-temperature dynamics in a glassy material
1Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106-9530, USA. langer@physics.ucsb.edu
Abstract:
We present a shear-transformation-zone (STZ)-based analysis of numerical simulations by Haxton and Liu [Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 195701 (2007)]. The extensive Haxton and Liu (HL) data sharply test the basic assumptions of the STZ theory, especially the central role played by the effective disorder temperature as a dynamical state variable. We find that the theory survives these tests, and that the HL data provide important and interesting constraints on some of its specific ingredients. Our most surprising conclusion is that, when driven at various constant shear rates in the low-temperature glassy state, the HL system exhibits a classic glass transition, including super-Arrhenius behavior, as a function of the effective temperature.
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