Critical scalings and jamming in thermal colloidal systems

Abstract: During the jamming of thermal colloids, the first peak of the pair distribution function shows a maximum height $g_1^{\rm max}$. We find that $g_1^{\rm max}$ is accompanied by significant change of material properties and thus signifies the transition from unjammed to jammed glasses. The scaling laws at $g_1^{\rm max}$ lead to scaling collapse of structural and thermodynamic quantities, indicating the criticality of the T=0 jamming transition. The physical significance of $g_1^{\rm max}$ is highlighted by its coincidence with the equality of the kinetic and potential energy and the maximum fluctuation of the coordination number. In jammed glasses, we find the strong coupling between the isostaticity and flattening of the density of vibrational states at the isostatic temperature scaled well with the compression.