Enhanced diffusion upon approaching the kinetic glass transition

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Abstract
The apparent failure of the Stokes-Einstein law in strongly supercooled liquids has provoked recent experimental and theoretical studies. In an attempt to explain this phenomenon, we study the diffusion in a dynamically disordered continuum in which small, compact regions of greater diffusivity appear and disappear in time. Within the confines of the model, we show that a systematic increase in the ratio of the diffusivity of fluidized domains to the background diffusivity appears to be the single most important factor in explaining the deviation from the Stokes relation. © 1996 The American Physical Society.