Abstract
Glasses are dynamically arrested states of matter that do not exhibit the long-range periodic structure of crystals1,2,3,4. Here we develop new insights from theory and simulation into the impact of quantum fluctuations on glass formation. As intuition may suggest, we observe that large quantum fluctuations serve to inhibit glass formation as tunnelling and zero-point energy allow particles to traverse barriers facilitating movement. However, as the classical limit is approached a regime is observed in which quantum effects slow down relaxation making the quantum system more glassy than the classical system. This dynamical ‘reentrance’ occurs in the absence of obvious structural changes and has no counterpart in the phenomenology of classical glass-forming systems.
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Acknowledgements
B.J.B. acknowledges support from NSF grant No. CHE-0910943. D.R.R. would like to thank the NSF through grant No. CHE-0719089. K.M. acknowledges support from Kakenhi grant No. 21015001 and 2154016. The authors acknowledge G. Biroli and L. Cugliandolo for useful discussions.
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D.R.R. and E.R. developed the QMCT approach. K.M. and E.R. carried out the QMCT calculations. T.E.M. carried out the RPMD calculations and analysed the results with B.J.B. and J.A.M. All authors contributed to the preparation of the manuscript.
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Markland, T., Morrone, J., Berne, B. et al. Quantum fluctuations can promote or inhibit glass formation. Nature Phys 7, 134–137 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1865
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1865
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