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Non-equilibrium glass transitions in driven and active matter

Nature Physics volume 9, pages 310–314 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

The glass transition, extensively studied in dense fluids, polymers or colloids, corresponds to a marked evolution of equilibrium transport coefficients on a modest change of control parameter, such as temperature or pressure. A similar phenomenology is found in many systems evolving far from equilibrium, such as driven granular media, active and living matter. Although many theories compete to describe the glass transition at thermal equilibrium, very little is understood far from equilibrium. Here, we solve the dynamics of a specific, yet representative, class of glass models in the presence of non-thermal driving forces and energy dissipation, and show that a dynamic arrest can take place in these non-equilibrium conditions. Whereas the location of the transition depends on the specifics of the driving mechanisms, important features of the glassy dynamics are insensitive to details, suggesting that an effective thermal dynamics generically emerges at long timescales in non-equilibrium systems close to dynamic arrest.

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Figure 1: Slow dynamics with coloured dissipation and noise.
Figure 2: Effective temperatures near non-equilibrium glass transitions.

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Acknowledgements

We thank E. Bertin and O. Dauchot for discussions, and Groupement de Recherches PHENIX and ANR programme JAMVIB for partial financial support. The research leading to these results has received financial support from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013)/ERC Grant agreement No 306845.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire Charles Coulomb, UMR 5221 CNRS and Université Montpellier 2, Montpellier 34095, France

    Ludovic Berthier

  2. PMMH, UMR 7636 CNRS and ESPCI, Paris 75005, France

    Jorge Kurchan

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  1. Ludovic Berthier
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Both authors contributed equally to this work.

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Correspondence to Ludovic Berthier.

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Berthier, L., Kurchan, J. Non-equilibrium glass transitions in driven and active matter. Nature Phys 9, 310–314 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys2592

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