Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol.116, No.9, 3789-3794, 2002
The liquid-glass transition of silica
We studied the liquid-glass transition of SiO2 by means of replica theory, utilizing an effective pair potential which was proved to reproduce a few experimental features of silica. We found a finite critical temperature T-0, where the system undergoes a phase transition related to replica symmetry breaking, in a region where experiments do not show any transition. The possible sources of this discrepancy are discussed.