Cooperative lengthscales in glass-formers:Theoretical motivations and empirical evidence
After decades of research, a clear picture of the glass transition phenomenon common to scores of different materials (molecular glasses, polymers, colloids) is still lacking. Recent theoretical works suggest the existence of dynamic criticality and growing dynamic lengthscales associated to dynamic heterogeneity. We will summarize the theoretical arguments for such a length scale, with special emphasis to the so-called Random First Order Theory of the glass transition. We will also discuss experimentally accessible multi-point dynamic susceptibilities quantifying the cooperative dynamics and present some recent numerical and experimental results illustrating these ideas.
SPEC, CEA/Saclay
