A THERMODYNAMIC THEORY OF SUPERCOOLED LIQUIDS

A never thermodynamic theory of the properties of supercooled liquids as they get glassy is presented. It is based on the postulated existence of a narrowly avoided thermodynamic phase transition at a temperature T* greater than or equal to T-m, where T-m is the melting point, and the ''avoidance'' is due to geometric frustration. We show that as a consequence two large emergent length scales develop at temperatures less than T*, and we also show that this picture is consistent with appropriate statistical mechanical models. A theoretical expression is obtained which permits collapse of the viscosity versus temperature of all known glass-formers onto a single master-curve.