1203.4648 (Zohar Nussinov)

Viewpoint on the "Theory of the superglass phase" and a proof of
principle of quantum critical jamming and related phases    [PDF]

Zohar Nussinov

A viewpoint article on the very interesting work of Biroli, Chamon, and Zamponi on superglasses. I further suggest how additional new superglass and "spin-superglass" phases of matter (the latter phases contain quenched disorder) and general characteristics may be proven as a theoretical proof of concept in various electronic systems. The new phases include: (1) superglasses of Cooper pairs, i.e., glassy superconductors, (2) superglass phases of quantum spins, and (3) superglasses of the electronic orbitals. New general features which may be derived by the same construct include (a) quantum dynamical heterogeneities- a low temperature quantum analogue of dynamical heterogeneities known to exist in classical glasses and spin-glasses wherein the local dynamics and temporal correlations are spatially non-uniform. I also discuss on a new class of quantum critical systems. In particular, I outline (b) the derivation of the quantum analogue of the zero temperature jamming transition that has a non-trivial dynamical exponent. We very briefly comment on (c) quantum liquid crystals.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1203.4648