On the co-operative formation of local ground states and frustration fields in the structural glass As2Se3

Abstract A microscopic free energy model with an order parameter was introduced earlier that included a local frustration gauge field with U1 symmetry. Ad hoc values of this field were introduced to fit the NQR distribution of a powdered sample of As2Se3 glass and predict the glass and Kauzmann temperatures. Here we derive initial values of the local frustration force amplitudes from an associated molecular free energy. We show that these amplitudes as calculated solely as gradients of the free energy are too large, and that a force term derived from energy leaving the glass and entering the bath must be included to give the correct magnitude. The modification to the bath also acts as a U1 gauge transformation of the frustration field, and insures that the “freezing” process is irreversible, non-equilibrium, and approximately steady state.