Glassy Disordered Systems: Glass Formation And Universal Anomalous Low-energy Properties (Soft Modes‪)‬

The present book describes the fundamental features of glassy disordered systems at high temperatures (close to the liquid-to-glass transition) and for the first time in a book, the universal anomalous properties of glasses at low energies (i.e. temperatures/frequencies lower than the Debye values) are depicted. Several important theoretical models for both the glass formation and the universal anomalous properties of glasses are described and analyzed. The origin and main features of soft atomic-motion modes and their excitations, as well as their role in the anomalous properties, are considered in detail. It is shown particularly that the soft-mode model gives rise to a consistent description of the anomalous properties. Additional manifestations of the soft modes in glassy phenomena are described. Other models of the anomalous glassy properties can be considered as limit cases of the soft-mode model for either very low or moderately low temperatures/frequencies.
Contents:Fundamental Properties of Glasses:General Description of Glasses and Glass TransitionModels of Glassy (Topologically Disordered) StructuresSome Theoretical Models of Glass TransitionKohlrausch–William–Watt (KWW) RelaxationAnomalous Low-Energy Dynamics of Glasses:Origin of Anomalous Low-Energy Properties of GlassesExperimental Background for Anomalous Low-Energy Atomic DynamicsSoft-Mode Model of Low-Energy Atomic DynamicsSoft-Mode Excitations of Very Low and “Intermediate” EnergiesTunneling States as Very Low Energy Limit CaseSoft-Mode Excitations of Moderately-Low Energies (Boson Peak)On Universal and Non-Universal Dynamic Properties of GlassesOther Models for Glasses with High Frequency SoundRecent Models for Glasses with No High-Frequency SoundAnomalous Electron Properties of Semiconducting GlassesSoft-Mode Model of Localized Electron States in the GlassesAdditional Manifestations of Soft Modes in GlassesSummary, Conclusions and Problems
Readership: Graduate students in the field of amorphous solids, professional theoretical physicists in glasses, professional experimentalists in glasses.