METASTABLE DYNAMICS OF THE HARD-SPHERE SYSTEM

The reformulation of the mode-coupling theory (MCT) of the liquid-glass transition which incorporates the element of metastability is applied to the hard-sphere system. It is shown that the glass transition in this system is not a sharp one at the special value of the density or the packing fraction, which is in contrast to the prediction by the conventional MCT. Instead we find that the slowing down of the dynamics occurs over a range of values of the packing fraction. Consequently, the exponents governing the sequence of time relaxations in the intermediate time regime are given as functions of the packing fraction, with one additional parameter that describes the overall scale of the metastable potential energy for defects in the hard-sphere system. Implications of the present model on the recent experiments on colloidal systems are also discussed.