We discuss the need for discretization to evaluate the configurational entropy in a general model. We also discuss the prescription using restricted partition function formalism to study the stationary limit of metastable states where a more stable equilibrium state exists. We introduce a lattice model of dimers as a paradigm of molecular fluid and study stationary metastability in it to investigate the root cause of glassy behavior. We demonstrate the existence of entropy crisis in metastable states, from which it follows that the entropy crisis is the root cause underlying the ideal glass transition in systems with particles of all sizes. The orientational interactions in the model control the nature of the liquid-liquid transition observed in recent years in molecular glasses.

• Received 15 October 2004

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.72.011102