Coherence of the Glassy State

Glasses are known to possess some puzzling features among condensed matter systems, as shown by the Kauzmann paradox. We show that if the coherent interaction mechanisms of Quantum Electrodynamics are taken into account, glasses are nothing but molecular liquids in which a large fraction of the molecules enter a collective, coherent state. In this conceptual framework the temperature of glass formation can be identified with the temperature at which the non-coherent fraction vanishes. Using a recently developed treatment of liquid water where QED interactions are not neglected, we suggest a possible interpretation of the surprising finding of two low-temperature water amorphs and of their phase-transition.