Structural Glasses and Supercooled Liquids: Theory, Experiment, and Applications

Sets forth a comprehensive and unified understanding of glassy dynamics

Examining theoretical and experimental approaches, this book offers current perspectives on the glass transition as well as relaxations in glassy systems, all based on established characteristics of the underlying molecular motions deduced by first principle theoretical calculations or by direct or single-molecule experimental techniques. The authors examine the broad range of phenomena associated with the structural glass transition. Moreover, they explore a variety of glassy and disordered systems, including structural glasses and supercooled liquids, polymers, complex liquids, protein conformational dynamics, and strongly interacting electron systems with quenched or self-generated disorder.

Ten carefully researched reviews have been written by twenty-four leading pioneers and researchers. These reviews were then carefully edited by two leading experts in physical chemistry, chemical physics, and biophysics. The reviews cover such topics as

• Supercooled liquid dynamics: advances and challenges;

• Dielectric spectroscopy of glassy dynamics;

• Dynamics in the crossover region of supercooled liquids;

• Glassy dynamics of proteins;

• Theories of structural glass dynamics: mosaics and jamming.

Each review is filled with detailed calculations and arguments that are solidly based on the latest experimental data. Extensive references serve as a gateway to the literature.

Structural Glasses and Supercooled Liquids presents a unified paradigm of glassy dynamics that enables chemists, physicists, biologists, chemical engineers, and materials scientists to better understand cooperative phenomena in complex fluids, glasses, polymers, proteins, and strongly interacting electronic systems with disorder.

Sets forth a comprehensive and unified understanding of glassy dynamics

Examining theoretical and experimental approaches, this book offers current perspectives on the glass transition as well as relaxations in glassy systems, all based on established characteristics of the underlying molecular motions deduced by first principle theoretical calculations or by direct or single-molecule experimental techniques. The authors examine the broad range of phenomena associated with the structural glass transition. Moreover, they explore a variety of glassy and disordered systems, including structural glasses and supercooled liquids, polymers, complex liquids, protein conformational dynamics, and strongly interacting electron systems with quenched or self-generated disorder.

Ten carefully researched reviews have been written by twenty-four leading pioneers and researchers. These reviews were then carefully edited by two leading experts in physical chemistry, chemical physics, and biophysics. The reviews cover such topics as

• Supercooled liquid dynamics: advances and challenges;

• Dielectric spectroscopy of glassy dynamics;

• Dynamics in the crossover region of supercooled liquids;

• Glassy dynamics of proteins;

• Theories of structural glass dynamics: mosaics and jamming.

Each review is filled with detailed calculations and arguments that are solidly based on the latest experimental data. Extensive references serve as a gateway to the literature.

Structural Glasses and Supercooled Liquids presents a unified paradigm of glassy dynamics that enables chemists, physicists, biologists, chemical engineers, and materials scientists to better understand cooperative phenomena in complex fluids, glasses, polymers, proteins, and strongly interacting electronic systems with disorder.