Reaching the Ideal Glass in Polymer Spheres: Thermodynamics and Vibrational Density of States.

The existence of an ideal glass and the resolution to the Kauzmann paradox is a long-standing open question in materials science. To address this problem, we exploit the ability of glasses with large interfacial area to access low energy states. We submit aggregates of spheres of a polymeric glass former to aging well below their glass transition temperature, T_{g}; and characterize their thermodynamic state by calorimetry, and the vibrational density of state (VDOS) by inelastic neutron scattering (INS). We show that, when aged at appropriate temperatures, glassy spheres attain a thermodynamic state corresponding to an ideal glass in time scales of about one day. In this state, the boson peak, underlying the deviation from the Debye level of the VDOS, is essentially suppressed. Our results are discussed in the framework of the link between the macroscopic thermodynamic state of glasses and their vibrational properties.