Decoupled length scales for diffusivity and viscosity in glass-forming liquids.

ABSTRACT

The growth of the characteristic length scales both for diffusion and viscosity is investigated by molecular dynamics utilizing the finite-size effect in a binary Lennard-Jones mixture. For those quantities relevant to the diffusion process (e.g., the hydrodynamic value and the spatial correlation function), a strong system-size dependence is found. In contrast, it is weak or absent for the shear relaxation process. Correlation lengths are estimated from the decay of the spatial correlation functions. We find the length scale for viscosity decouples from the one of diffusivity, featured by a saturated length even in high supercooling. This temperature-independent behavior of the length scale is reminiscent of the unapparent structure change upon supercooling, implying the manifestation of configuration entropy. Whereas for the diffusion process, it is manifested by relaxation dynamics and dynamic heterogeneity. The Stokes-Einstein relation is found to break down at the temperature where the decoupling of these lengths happens.