Kinetic Arrest Originating in Competition between Attractive Interaction and Packing Force

Original · EN

We discuss the situation where attractive and repulsive portions of the inter-particle potential both contribute significantly to glass formation. We introduce the square-well potential as prototypical model for this situation, and reject the Baxter as a useful model for comparison to experiment on glasses, based on our treatment within mode coupling theory. We present explicit results for various well-widths, and show that, for narrow wells, there is a useful analytical formula that would be suitable for experimentalist working in the field of colloidal science. We raise the question as to whether, in a more exact treatment, the sticky sphere limit might have an infinite glass transition temperature, or a high but finite one.