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Updated: Aug 6, 2026
09:32
Cooling Rate Dependent Ellipsometry Measurements to Determine the Dynamics of Thin Glassy Films
Published on: January 26, 2016
Controlling the glass transition through active fluctuating interactions
Emir Sezik1, Henry Alston1,2, Thibault Bertrand1
1Imperial College London, Department of Mathematics, South Kensington, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom.
Physical Review. E
|July 24, 2026
Summary
Microscopic fluctuations in biological systems can fluidize dense matter. Stronger, less persistent fluctuations suppress glass transitions, while more persistent ones promote them, revealing how interactions control structural changes.
Area of Science:
- Statistical mechanics
- Soft condensed matter physics
- Biophysics
Background:
- Dense biological systems exhibit fluidlike states driven by fluctuating interactions.
- These states are crucial for morphogenesis and aggregate formation with unique mechanical properties.
- A model explaining microscopic fluctuating interactions' role in structural transitions is needed.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a tractable model for interaction-mediated fluidization.
- To investigate the impact of fluctuating pairwise couplings on structural transitions.
- To understand how microscopic fluctuations control the glass transition.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a p-spin model with fluctuating pairwise couplings.
- Analyzed the effects of fluctuation strength (D_{a}) and persistence time (t_{a}).
- Numerically extracted the critical glass transition temperature (T_{g}) using scaling relations.
Main Results:
- Stronger fluctuations were found to suppress the glass transition.
- Increased persistence time of fluctuations had the opposite effect, promoting the glass transition.
- An emergent fluctuation-dissipation relation was identified at long times.
Conclusions:
- Microscopic fluctuations critically influence the glass transition in dense systems.
- The interplay between fluctuation strength and persistence determines the system's fluidization.
- The p-spin model provides a framework for understanding interaction-mediated structural changes.
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