Mutual information reveals multiple structural relaxation mechanisms in a model glass former

Among the key challenges to our understanding of solidification in the glass transition is that it is accompanied by little apparent change in structure. Recently, geometric motifs have been identified in glassy liquids, but a causal link between these motifs and solidification remains elusive. One ‘smoking gun’ for such a link would be identical scaling of structural and dynamic lengthscales on approaching the glass transition, but this is highly controversial. Here we introduce an information theoretic approach to determine correlations in displacement for particle relaxation encoded in the initial configuration of a glass-forming liquid. We uncover two populations of particles, one inclined to relax quickly, the other slowly. Each population is correlated with local density and geometric motifs. Our analysis further reveals a dynamic lengthscale similar to that associated with structural properties, which may resolve the discrepancy between structural and dynamic lengthscales. One mystery of glass transition from supercooled liquid is the lack of apparent change in structure, which is in contrast to a large change in dynamics. Here Dunleavy et al . provide a possible solution to this discrepancy by simulating dynamic correlation using a mutual information approach.