Dynamical arrest in dense short-ranged attractive colloids

Abstract

We study thermodynamic and dynamic properties of model colloidal systems interactingwith a hard core repulsion and a short-range attraction, and provide an overall picture oftheir phase diagrams which shows a very rich phenomenology. We focus on the slowdynamic properties of this model, investigating in detail the glass transition lines (bothrepulsive and attractive), the glass–glass transitions and the location of the higher ordersingularities. We discuss the relative location of the glass lines and of the metastableliquid–gas binodal, an issue relevant for the understanding of low density arrested states ofmatter.