Evidence of a dynamical length scale in the 'f-spin frustrated kinetic Ising model'

In this paper we study the connection between the equilibrium relaxation properties of glass-forming systems and the spatial organization of cooperative processes which govern their dynamics. This study has been performed by Monte Carlo simulations of f-spin frustrated kinetic Ising models for different local kinetic constraints f. Both the equilibrium dynamics of these systems and the topological properties of their cooperative processes were investigated through the calculation of autocorrelation functions and the distribution of cooperativity lengths. The results show that the different local kinetic constraints induce very different spatial organizations of the cooperative processes and thus heterogeneous dynamics of different natures. On the other hand, whatever their spatial organization, the average spatial extent of the cooperative processes acts as a dynamical length scale which governs the dynamics of the system.