How does the relaxation of a supercooled liquid depend on its microscopic dynamics?

TL;DR

This study uses molecular dynamics simulations to compare how supercooled liquids relax under Newtonian versus stochastic dynamics, finding that their long-term relaxation behaviors are largely similar despite differences in microscopic dynamics.

Contribution

It demonstrates that the macroscopic relaxation properties of supercooled liquids are insensitive to the type of microscopic dynamics used in simulations.

Findings

Relaxation times increase similarly upon cooling for both dynamics

Alpha-relaxation details are independent of microscopic dynamics

Wave vector dependence of Edwards-Anderson parameters is unaffected

Abstract

Using molecular dynamics computer simulations we investigate how the relaxation dynamics of a simple supercooled liquid with Newtonian dynamics differs from the one with a stochastic dynamics. We find that, apart from the early beta-relaxation regime, the two dynamics give rise to the same relaxation behavior. The increase of the relaxation times of the system upon cooling, the details of the alpha-relaxation, as well as the wave vector dependence of the Edwards-Anderson-parameters are independent of the microscopic dynamics.