Percolation approach to glassy dynamics with continuously broken ergodicity

Abstract

We show that the relaxation dynamics near a glass transition with continuous ergodicity breaking can be endowed with a geometric interpretation based on percolation theory. At the mean-field level this approach is consistent with the mode-coupling theory (MCT) of type-A liquid-glass transitions and allows one to disentangle the universal and nonuniversal contributions to MCT relaxation exponents. Scaling predictions for the time correlation function are successfully tested in the F12 schematic model and facilitated spin systems on a Bethe lattice. Our approach immediately suggests the extension of MCT scaling laws to finite spatial dimensions and yields predictions for dynamic relaxation exponents below an upper critical dimension of 6.