Instabilities of time-averaged configurations in thermal glasses

In amorphous solids at finite temperatures the particles follow chaotic trajectories which, at temperatures sufficiently lower than the glass transition, are trapped in "cages." Averaging their positions for times shorter than the diffusion time, one can define a time-averaged configuration. Under strain or stress, these average configurations undergo sharp plastic instabilities. In athermal glasses the understanding of plastic instabilities is furnished by the Hessian matrix and its eigenvalues and eigenfunctions. Here we propose an uplifting of Hessian methods to thermal glasses, with the aim of understanding the plastic responses in the time-averaged configuration. We discuss a number of potential definitions of Hessians and identify which of these can provide eigenvalues and eigenfunctions which can explain and predict the instabilities of the time-averaged configurations. The conclusion is that the nonaffine changes in the average configurations during an instability is accurately predicted by the eigenfunctions of the low-lying eigenvalues of the chosen Hessian.