Self-Diffusion in Simple Liquids as a Random Walk Process

Abstract

It is demonstrated that self-diffusion in dense liquids can be considered a random walk process; its characteristic length and time scales are identified. This represents an alternative to the often assumed hopping mechanism of diffusion in the liquid state. The approach is illustrated using the one-component plasma model.

Keywords

• self-diffusion in liquids
• transport properties of liquids
• random walk process
• viscosity of liquids
• one-component plasma
• collective motion in liquids