Gardner physics in three-dimensional structural glasses*

The discovery of Gardner phases in structural glasses has profound consequences for their physical behavior, e.g. elasticity, rheology, low-temperature transport. It is therefore crucial to understand which type of materials, and under which physical conditions, are in the Gardner phase. Based on mean-field results [1], we present a comprehensive numerical study of 3d glasses. By changing external parameters, we explore regimes relevant to granular, colloidal, and molecular glasses. We delimit two separate regimes. We find that glasses close enough to jamming present a hierarchical landscape [2], and rejuvenation and memory effects expected in a Gardner phase [3]. In the regime far from jamming, relevant to atomic glasses, no Gardner physics is observed. Our study reveals instead the presence of localised excitations, whose role in low-temperature transport is analyzed. Our results suggest that Gardner physics should be observed in colloidal and non-Brownian particles near jamming.

[1] C Scalliet, L Berthier, F Zamponi, Phy. Rev. E 99 012107 (2019).
[2] C Scalliet, L Berthier, F Zamponi, Nat. Comm. (in press).
[3] C Scalliet, L Berthier, Phy. Rev. Lett. 122 255502 (2019) - Editor’s Suggestion.