Molecular dynamics of a dense fluid of polydisperse hard spheres

Slow dynamics in a fluid are studied in one of the most basic systems possible: polydisperse hard spheres. Monodisperse hard spheres cannot be studied as the slow down in dynamics as the density is increased is preempted by crystallization. As the dynamics slow they become more heterogeneous, the spread in the distances traveled by different particles in the same time increases. However, the dynamics appears to be less heterogeneous than in hard-spherelike colloids at the same volume fraction. The particles which move least far in a characteristic relaxation time and, particularly, the particles which move farthest in the same time are clustered, not randomly distributed throughout the sample. The slow dynamics (but not the statics) show strong finite size effects, suggesting that slow dynamics are correlated over distances of several diameters. We study the dynamics at three different widths of the distribution of diameters of the hard spheres. For each width, the relaxation time is the same function of the compressibility factor, suggesting that this determines the relaxation time for hard spheres. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-9606(00)51135-0].