Abstract
We build up a phenomenological picture in terms of the effective dynamics of a tracer confined in a cage experiencing random hops to capture some characteristics of glassy systems. This minimal description exhibits scale invariance properties for the small-displacement distribution that echo experimental observations. We predict the existence of exponential tails as a crossover between two Gaussian regimes. Moreover, we demonstrate that the onset of glassy behavior is controlled only by two dimensionless numbers: the number of hops occurring during the relaxation of the particle within a local cage and the ratio of the hopping length to the cage size.
- Received 8 February 2016
- Revised 5 May 2016
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.94.012610
©2016 American Physical Society