Dynamical theory of network glasses

One of the most striking phenomena in amorphous materials is the rapid onset of rigidity at decreasing temperatures, known as the glass transition. In crystals, rigidity is easily understood in terms of the macroscopic energy cost to break a periodic lattice, but the glass transition in amorphous materials is more challenging to describe. One successful approach is the Random First-Order Transition (RFOT) theory of glasses. Here, I consider a specific class of glasses, the so-called “network glasses”, in which specific pairs of particles exhibit long-lived interactions, often through covalent bonding. Network glasses can be found anywhere from everyday window glass (SiO₂) to more exotic colloidal and biological contexts. Some previous work predicted the thermodynamic properties of network glasses from RFOT theory, which I here expand to describe their dynamical properties.