Long-wavelength fluctuations lead to a model of the glass crossover

The effect of long-wavelength fluctuations on the Mode-Coupling-Theory (MCT) dynamical singularity at T-c in the beta-regime is studied by means of the standard field-theoretical procedure for a genuine second-order phase transition. The resulting perturbative loop expansion can be resummed leading to an extension of the MCT equation for the critical correlator with local random fluctuations of the separation parameter. The corresponding model explains both qualitatively and quantitatively why the MCT dynamical singularity is transformed into a crossover from relaxational to activated dynamics. Dynamical Heterogeneities emerge naturally as the ergodicity-restoring mechanism instead of ad hoc hopping processes. Copyright (C) EPLA, 2014