Glassy behavior induced by geometrical frustration in a hard-core lattice-gas model

We introduce a hard-core lattice-gas model on generalized Bethe lattices and investigate its compaction behavior analytically and numerically. If compactified slowly, the system undergoes a first-order crystallization transition. If compactified much faster, the system stays in a meta-stable liquid state and undergoes a glass transition under further compaction. We show that this behavior is induced by geometrical frustration which appears due to the existence of short loops in the generalized Bethe lattices. We also compare our results to numerical simulations of a three-dimensional analog of the model.