Multiple time scales hidden in heterogeneous dynamics of glass-forming liquids.

A multitime probing of density fluctuations is introduced to investigate hidden time scales of heterogeneous dynamics in glass-forming liquids. Molecular-dynamics simulations for simple glass-forming liquids are performed and a three-time correlation function is numerically calculated for general time intervals. It is demonstrated that the three-time correlation function is sensitive to the heterogeneous dynamics and that it reveals couplings of correlated motions over a wide range of time scales. Furthermore, the time scale of the heterogeneous dynamics tauhetero is determined by the change in the second time interval in the three-time correlation function. The present results show that the time scale of the heterogeneous dynamics tauhetero becomes larger than the alpha-relaxation time at low temperatures and large wavelengths. We also find a dynamical scaling relation between the time scale tauhetero and the length scale xi of dynamical heterogeneity as tauhetero approximately xiz with z=3.