Dynamics of a rod in a random static environment: non-Gaussianity at large length scales

Abstract

We present molecular dynamics simulations of the motion of a single rod in a two-dimensional random static array of disks. For long rods the mean-squared displacement of the center-of-mass shows a cage effect similar to that observed in supercooled liquids or dense colloidal systems. We have determined the time-dependence of the non-Gaussian parameter for different rod lengths. It is found that the long-time regime is strongly non-Gaussian even at length scales of the order of 10-15 times the rod length, thus showing the heterogeneity of the dynamics at such length scales.