Memory kernel, mode coupling theory

So far we have employed the exponential model for the memory kernel appearing in the GLE for the density correlation functions. In [60] the model based on the mode-coupling theory described in Sec. 5.2.4is applied to the calculation of the longitudinal current spectra of the same diatomic liquid as discussed here. It is found that the essential features of the results remained the same as far as the collective dynamics is concerned. It is also demonstrated that the results are in fair agreement with those determined from the molecular dynamics simulation. 

In principle the memory kernel in the mode-coupling equation contains contributions from three particle correlations, however, for all systems studied so far in computer simulations, these only slightly modified the predictions of the theory and helped improve agreement between simulation and theory [31]. Also, there has been an extension of the theory taking chain connectivity into account [32] which improved agreement with the simulations of the bead-spring model, but it remains to be seen whether an application of this theory to the two models presented here can account for their strongly different dynamic behavior. 

The mode coupling approximation for m (0 yields a set of equations that needs to be solved self-consistently. Hereby the only input to the theory is the static equilibrium structure factor 5, that enters the memory kernel directly and via the direct correlation function that is given by the Ornstein-Zernicke expression = (1 - l/5,)/p, with p being the average density. In MCT, the dynamics of a fluid close to the glass transition is therefore completely determined by equilibrium quantities plus one time scale, here given by the short-time diffusion coefficient. The theory can thus make rather strong predictions as the only input, namely, the equilibrium structure factor, can often be calculated from the particle interactions, or even more directly can be taken from the simulations of the system whose dynamics is studied. 

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