The replica method in liquid theory: from the basics to explicit computations

Abstract

In these notes we introduce briefly the fundamentals of the replica method in the context of liquid theory and the structural glass problem. In particular, we explain and show its usefulness as a computation framework in the context of the Random First Order Transition (RFOT) theory of the glass transition, whose defining points the reader is assumed to know. We shall give the intuitive idea of how and why the replica method is suitable for the description of the glass transition (the dynamical glass transition in particular) in real liquids, and then show how it can be used to make explicit computations and predictions that can be compared to experiments and numerical simulations.