A THEORISTS VIEW ON SUPERCOOLED LIQUIDS AND GLASS TRANSITIONS

The recent attempts to gain the first principle understanding of super cooled liquids and glass transition are explained The most successful first principle theory to date is an application of the mode coupling theory (MCT) to this problem, which, however, appears to be limited to the initial stage of freezing prior to glass transition. In the hope of overcoming this limitation a theoretical framework which combines t he mode coupling mechanism and the free energy barrier hopping which t akes place in the glassy state is proposed.