This condensed-matter physics paper proposes a generalized trap model for activated aging dynamics in glassy systems, built on a single static property of the energy landscape: the distribution of energy barriers. From this the theory predicts that weak ergodicity breaking (WEB) during quenching sets in before strong ergodicity breaking in equilibrium dynamics upon cooling, and that the characteristic size of activation clusters can be read off from the logarithmic decay of the time-correlation function. The authors test the model's assumptions on the simplest spin-glass system, the random energy model, and show the same aging behavior in paradigmatic structural glasses (the Weeks-Chandler-Andersen model and amorphous silica). Applying the framework to the WCA model lets them extract a static length scale from non-equilibrium dynamics, extending its observable growth range from a factor of 2-3 to a full order of magnitude and supporting the random first-order transition scenario. They conclude with a unified ergodic-WEB phase diagram for aging in general glassy systems.
This condensed-matter physics paper proposes a generalized trap model for activated aging dynamics in glassy systems, built on a single static property of the energy landscape: the distribution of en…