We use computer simulations to investigate the static properties of a simple glass-forming fluid in which the positions of a finite fraction of the particles have been frozen. By probing the equilibrium statistics of the overlap between independent configurations of the liquid, we find strong evidence that this random pinning induces a glass transition. At low temperatures, our numerical findings are consistent with the existence of a random first-order phase transition rounded by finite size effects.

• Received 9 January 2013

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.245702