(276j) Identity Crises in Hard Polyhedral Glass-Formers

Colloidal systems driven solely by entropy maximization are capable of self-assembling into a vast array of ordered structures of varying complexity. Often, however, no such assembly occurs, and the system instead displays dynamical characteristics of glass formation. Here, we computationally investigate assembly failure in a family of monodisperse, one-component systems, composed of colloidal particles of related polyhedral shapes with no interactions aside from those of excluded volume. We study the role that local structure plays in vitrification in these entropically-mediated systems, and find that assembly failure arises from a structural ``identity crisis" experienced on a local level.