Topological constraint theory of glass

A microscopic physical description of the glassy state long has eluded even the top scientists in condensed matter physics because of the complicated noncrystalline nature of glass structure. Currently, many theorists turn to molecular dynamics or other atomistic simulations to determine the structure of various glass compositions. However, although available computing power has increased exponentially during the past several decades, it will be at least another 20 to 30 years before enough computing power is available for direct molecular dynamics simulations of glass on a realistic laboratory time scale. Fortunately, topological constraint theory provides another path forward. It focuses on the important microscopic physics governing the thermal, mechanical and rheological properties of glass, while filtering out unnecessary details that ultimately do not affect its macroscopic properties. Topological constraint theory has been successful in predicting the composition dependence of glass properties and can be used as a tool to enable the quantitative design of new glass compositions.