Fig. 3.

Cages. Particle density ρ = 0.95. Illustrative calculation in the metastable or droplet state is shown. The red surface represents the probability (in log₁₀ scale) that a rectangular cage surrounding a vacant site is first found at size k by k + s. The probability density of cages is plotted against k (core size) and s (asymmetry degree) and decreases monotonically in k. High degrees of asymmetry are very rare. The probability of finding an empty square of size k is also plotted for a comparison. The intersection with the corresponding cage size distribution is at l_c = 25,^§ indicating that cages become statistically irrelevant (i.e. extremely rare) already at sizes much smaller than ξ ∼ 10⁵.