Nature of the Breakdown in the Stokes-Einstein Relationship in a Hard Sphere Fluid

Abstract

Molecular Dynamics simulations of high density hard sphere fluids clearly show a breakdown of the Stokes-Einstein equation (SE). This result has been conjectured to be due to the presence of mobile particles, i.e., ones which have the propensity to "hop" distances which are integer multiples of the interparticle distance. We conclusively show that, even though the whole liquid violates the SE equation at high densities, the sedentary particles, i.e., ones complementary to the "hoppers", obey the SE relationship. These results strongly support the notion that the unusual dynamics of fluids near vitrification are caused exclusively by the presence of hopping particles.