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Updated: Jun 8, 2026

Orientational Transition in a Liquid Crystal Triggered by the Thermodynamic Growth of Interfacial Wetting Sheets
Published on: May 15, 2017
Phase-separation perspective on dynamic heterogeneities in glass-forming liquids
C Cammarota1, A Cavagna, I Giardina
1Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Roma Sapienza, piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185, Roma, Italy.
Abstract:
We study dynamic heterogeneities in a model glass former whose overlap with a reference configuration is constrained to a fixed value. We find that the system phase separates into regions of small and large overlap, indicating that a nonzero surface tension plays an important role in the formation of dynamical heterogeneities. We calculate an appropriate thermodynamic potential and find evidence of a Maxwell construction consistent with a spinodal decomposition of two phases. Our results suggest that even in standard, unconstrained systems dynamic heterogeneities are the expression of an ephemeral phase-separating regime ruled by a finite surface tension.
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