Statistical physics of structural glasses

This paper gives an introduction to and brief overview of some of our recen t work on the equilibrium thermodynamics of glasses. We have focused on fir st-principles computations for simple fragile glasses, starting from the tw o-body interatomic potential. A replica formulation translates this problem into that of a gas of interacting molecules, each molecule being built of m atoms, and having a gyration radius (related to the cage size) which vani shes at zero temperature. We use a small-cage expansion. valid at low tempe ratures, which allows us to compute the cage size, the specific heat (which follows the Dulong and Petit law), and the configurational entropy. The no -replica interpretation of the computations is also briefly described. The results, particularly those concerning the Kauzmann temperature and the con figurational entropy, are compared to recent numerical simulations.