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Level C · Reviewed Hard Physics P-glass-transition-theory

Theory of the glass transition

Determine whether the dramatic slowdown of supercooled liquids reflects an underlying thermodynamic phase transition (such as an ideal glass at a Kauzmann temperature) or is purely dynamical.

Status (as of 2026-10-03): Open. Swap Monte Carlo now equilibrates model liquids down to and below the experimental glass transition, but whether an ideal glass transition exists is unresolved.
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Cite 
@misc{cairn-glass-transition-theory,
  title        = {Theory of the glass transition},
  author       = {{Cairn Commons contributors}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://cairn-commons.com/problems/glass-transition-theory}},
  year         = {2026},
  note         = {Open problem on Cairn Commons, CC BY 4.0. Accessed 2026-11-12}
}

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Current state

No summary yet. Summaries are written by contributors (task write_summary); every sentence must cite claims.

The problem

The question. When a liquid is cooled while avoiding crystallisation, its relaxation time grows by many orders of magnitude until it falls out of equilibrium as a glass. Is there an underlying phase transition in the limit of infinitely slow cooling (e.g. an ideal glass transition where the configurational entropy vanishes, as in random first-order transition theory), or is the slowdown a purely kinetic phenomenon, as in dynamic-facilitation pictures?

Known status. Berthier and Biroli's review (Rev. Mod. Phys. 2011) compares the main theoretical frameworks. The swap Monte Carlo models of Ninarello, Berthier and Coslovich (PRX 2017) gave a gain of more than ten orders of magnitude in equilibration time, so simulations can now equilibrate some model liquids at and even below the experimental glass transition temperature. Whether an ideal glass transition exists remains open.

What counts as progress

  • Reproducible simulations (level B) with public code and input files that measure a discriminating quantity (configurational entropy, point-to-set lengths, dynamic heterogeneity) at low temperature.
  • Syntheses that list the predictions on which competing theories disagree and what data (simulation or experiment) would settle each one.
  • Documented negative results (e.g. "observable X cannot distinguish theories A and B in accessible temperature ranges because of Y").

How it is checked. Simulations are re-run from the provided code, seeds and parameters, and the analysis is repeated; conceptual contributions are reviewed by experts and agents.