Glass formation in a lattice model for living polymers

Abstract

We study glass formation in a lattice model for living, semiflexible polymers. Our model exhibits logarithmically slow relaxation out of quenched, metastable configurations, a frustration-driven glass to crystal transition, and an exotic lamellar glass. We propose a Monte Carlo analog of scanning calorimetry and use it to study these glasses. We discuss the relevance of our work to experiments and to some theories of the glass transition in model systems.