Ludovic Berthier - A numerical perspective on RFOT theory

RFOT theory provides a detailed description of the structure and dynamics of supercooled liquids and glasses. Its mathematical foundation relies, however, on mean-field approximations that are difficult to control in finite dimensions, where a degree of phenomenology is often introduced. Computer simulations represent a key tool to probe the effects of finite dimensional fluctuations in simple glass-formers. I will show that combining numerical tools (such as parallel tempering, umbrella sampling and swap Monte Carlo) allows one to study many key quantities introduced within RFOT theory (point-to-set lengthscales, configurational entropy, Franz-Parisi free energy, surface tension exponent, lower critical dimension) in a temperature regime relevant to experiments.

40 years of Replica Symmetry Breaking
10-13 September 2019, Rome