Irreversible swap algorithms for soft sphere glasses

Abstract: We extend to soft repulsive interaction potentials a recently proposed irreversible swap algorithm originally designed for polydisperse hard spheres. The original algorithm performs rejection-free, irreversible, collective swap moves. We show that event-driven cluster updates of particle diameters can also be performed in continuous potentials by introducing a factorised Metropolis probability. However, the Metropolis factorisation needed to deal with continuous potentials decreases the efficiency of the algorithm and mitigates the benefits of breaking detailed balance. This leads us to propose another irreversible swap algorithm using the standard Metropolis probability that accelerates the relaxation of soft sphere glasses at low temperatures, compared to the original swap algorithm. We apply these efficient swap algorithms to produce very stable inherent structures with vibrational density of states lacking the quasi-localised excitations observed in conventional glasses.