Are the dynamics of a glass embedded in its elastic properties?

J Chem Phys. 2013 Mar 28;138(12):12A501. doi: 10.1063/1.4730525.

Abstract

The low temperature dynamics of glass are critically important for many high-tech applications. According to the elastic theory of the glass transition, the dynamics of glass are controlled by the evolution of shear modulus. In particular, the elastic shoving model expresses dynamics in terms of an activation energy required to shove aside the surrounding atoms. Here, we present a thorough test of the shoving model for predicting the low temperature dynamics of an oxide glass system. We show that the nonequilibrium viscosity of glass is governed by additional factors beyond changes in shear modulus.