A statistical-mechanical theory of slow dynamics near the glass transition

A statistical-mechanical theory of slow dynamics near the glass transition in two kinds of glass-forming systems, (M) molecular systems and (S) suspensions of colloids, is presented from a unified point of view based on the Tokuyama–Mori projection operator method. The exact diffusion equations for the coherent- and the incoherent-intermediate scattering functions are first derived, whose memory functions are convolutionless in time and contain the correlation effects due to the hydrodynamic interactions in (S). The analytic expressions of the memory functions are then calculated within the mode-coupling theory (MCT) approximation and are shown to coincide with the conventional ones obtained by MCT. Alternative mode-coupling equations are thus obtained in (M) and (S) separately. Self-diffusion is also discussed. Alternative equations for the mean-square displacement and the non-Gaussian parameter are also derived within MCT approximation. All results in both the systems are compared with those obtained by MCT.