Long-wavelength fluctuations and the glass transition in two dimensions and three dimensions

Phase transitions significantly differ between two-dimensional and three-dimensional systems, but the influence of dimensionality on the glass transition is unresolved. We use microscopy to study colloidal systems as they approach their glass transitions at high concentrations, and find differences between 2D and 3D. We find that in 2D particles can undergo large displacements without changing their position relative to their neighbors, in...