Glass-liquid-glass reentrance in mono-component colloidal dispersions.

The self-consistent generalized Langevin equation (SCGLE) theory of colloid dynamics is employed to describe the ergodic-non-ergodic transition in model mono-disperse colloidal dispersions whose particles interact through hard-sphere plus short-ranged attractive forces. The ergodic-non-ergodic phase diagram in the temperature-concentration state space is determined for the hard-sphere plus attractive Yukawa model within the mean spherical approximation for the static structure factor by solving a remarkably simple equation for the localization length of the colloidal particles. Finite real values of this property signals non-ergodicity and determines the non-ergodic parameters f(k) and f(s)(k). The resulting phase diagram for this system, which involves the existence of reentrant (repulsive and attractive) glass states, is compared with the corresponding prediction of mode coupling theory. Although both theories coincide in the general features of this phase diagram, there are also clear qualitative differences. One of the most relevant is the SCGLE prediction that the ergodic-attractive glass transition does not preempt the gas-liquid phase transition, but always intersects the corresponding spinodal curve on its high-concentration side. We also calculate the ergodic-non-ergodic phase diagram for the sticky hard-sphere model to illustrate the dependence of the predicted SCGLE dynamic phase diagram on the choice of one important constituent element of the SCGLE theory.