The frustration-based approach of supercooled liquids and the glass transition: a review and critical assessment

One of the most spectacular phenomena in physics in terms of dynamical range is the glass transition and the associated slowing down of flow and relaxation with decreasing temperature. That it occurs in many different liquids seems to call for a ‘universal’ theory. In this article, we review one such theoretical approach, which is based on the concept of ‘frustration’. Frustration in this context describes an incompatibility between extension of the locally preferred order in a liquid and tiling of the whole space. We provide a critical assessment of what has been achieved within this approach and we discuss its relation with other theories of the glass transition.