A critical test of the mode-coupling theory of the glass transition

TL;DR

This paper critically tests the mode-coupling theory of the glass transition using numerical simulations and finds that it fails to accurately predict the dynamics of viscous liquids, indicating missing information beyond pair correlations.

Contribution

The study provides a direct numerical validation showing the limitations of mode-coupling theory in describing glassy dynamics.

Findings

Mode-coupling theory fails to predict dynamics in certain liquids.

Pair correlations are insufficient to capture all relevant dynamical information.

The theory does not account for important structural details affecting dynamics.

Abstract

The mode-coupling theory of the glass transition predicts the time evolution of the intermediate scattering functions in viscous liquids on the sole basis of the structural information encoded in two-point density correlations. We provide a critical test of this property and show that the theory fails to describe the qualitatively distinct dynamical behavior obtained in two model liquids characterized by very similar pair correlation functions. Because we use `exact' static information provided by numerical simulations, our results are a direct proof that some important information about the dynamics of viscous liquids is not captured by pair correlations, and is thus not described by the mode-coupling theory, even in the temperature regime where the theory is usually applied.