Time glass: A fractional calculus approach

Abstract

Out of equilibrium states in glasses and crystals have been a major topic of research in condensed-matter physics for many years, and the idea of time crystals has triggered a flurry of new research. Here, we provide the first description for the recently conjectured Time Glasses using fractional calculus methods. An exactly solvable effective theory is introduced, with a continuous parameter describing the transition from liquid through normal glass, Time Glass, into the Gardner phase. The phenomenological description with a fractional Langevin equation is connected to a microscopic model of a particle in a sub-Ohmic bath in the framework of a generalized Caldeira-Leggett model.