Heterogeneous Dynamics of Coarsening Systems

TL;DR

This paper investigates the slow, heterogeneous dynamics of coarsening systems through experiments, theory, and simulations, revealing similarities to glass-forming systems and introducing novel multi-point functions to quantify dynamic correlations.

Contribution

It presents a comprehensive study combining experiments, theoretical models, and simulations to analyze dynamic heterogeneity in coarsening systems, including new measurement techniques and exact results.

Findings

Dynamic heterogeneity is observed in coarsening systems.

Multi-point functions effectively quantify dynamic correlations.

Universal dynamic scaling with domain size is identified.

Abstract

We show by means of experiments, theory and simulations, that the slow dynamics of coarsening systems displays dynamic heterogeneity similar to that observed in glass-forming systems. We measure dynamic heterogeneity via novel multi-point functions which quantify the emergence of dynamic, as opposed to static, correlations of fluctuations. Experiments are performed on a coarsening foam using Time Resolved Correlation, a recently introduced light scattering method. Theoretically we study the Ising model, and present exact results in one dimension, and numerical results in two dimensions. For all systems the same dynamic scaling of fluctuations with domain size is observed.