Quasivoid: A Quasi-Particle Approach for the Dynamics of Structural Glass

Explore a groundbreaking approach to understanding the dynamics of structural glass in this 32-minute conference talk by Chi-Hang Lam from PCS Institute for Basic Science. Delve into the concept of quasivoids, a novel quasi-particle approach that sheds light on the long-standing controversial problems of particle dynamics in glass and the nature of the glass transition. Learn about days-long experiments on glassy colloidal systems that reveal the diminishing of fluid-like behaviors at deep supercooling, and how particle motions are instead dominated by sequences of activated hops. Discover the role of quasivoids as defects consisting of localized free volume fragments and their relevance in glass dynamics. Examine the distinguishable-particle lattice model (DPLM) that incorporates these mechanisms and successfully reproduces a wide range of glassy phenomena. Gain insights into how this approach makes glassy dynamics analytically tractable using a local random configuration-tree theory, potentially revolutionizing our understanding of structural glass behavior.