Anomalous relaxation in binary mixtures: a dynamic facilitation picture

Abstract

Recent computational investigations in polymeric and non-polymeric binary mixtures have reported anomalous relaxation features when both components exhibit very different mobilities. Anomalous relaxation is characterized by sublinear power law behaviour for mean squared displacements, logarithmic decay in dynamic correlators, and a striking concave-to-convex crossover in the latters by tuning the relevant control parameter, in analogy with predictions of the Mode Coupling Theory for state points close to higher-order transitions. We present Monte Carlo simulations on a coarse-grained model for relaxation in binary mixtures. The liquid structure is substituted by a three-dimensional array of cells. A spin variable is assigned to each cell, representing unexcited and excited local states of a mobility field. Changes in local mobility (spin flip) are permitted according to kinetic constraints determined by the mobilities of the neighbouring cells. We introduce two types of cells (``fast'' and ``slow'') with very different rates for spin flip. This coarse-grained model qualitatively reproduces the mentioned anomalous relaxation features observed for real binary mixtures.