Predicting the long time dynamic heterogeneity in a supercooled liquid on the basis of short time heterogeneities

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that short time local heterogeneities, measured by the Debye-Waller factor, can effectively predict long-term dynamic behavior in a supercooled liquid, unlike potential energy measures.

Contribution

It introduces the use of the local Debye-Waller factor as a predictor for long-time dynamic heterogeneity in supercooled liquids.

Findings

Debye-Waller factor shows significant spatial heterogeneities.

Short time fluctuations predict long-term dynamic propensities.

Potential energy per particle does not correlate well with dynamics.

Abstract

We report that the local Debye-Waller factor in a simulated 2D glass-forming mixture exhibits significant spatial heterogeneities and that these short time fluctuations provide an excellent predictor of the spatial distribution of the long time dynamic propensities [Phys.Rev.Lett. 93, 135701 (2004)]. In contrast, the potential energy per particle of the inherent structure does not correlate well with the spatially distributed dynamics.