RETARDATION EXPERIMENTS IN GLASS-FORMING LIQUIDS AND THEIR DESCRIPTION IN TERMS OF THE CONFORMON MODEL

Relaxation in glass-forming liquids as measured by dielectric, by ligh t- and by neutron-scattering experiments can be described with the aid of the conformon model. Conformons behave like bosons which display a photon statistics. Conformons are excited and can also be annihilated . They show a universal reduced energy density distribution, revealing their thermodynamic roots. Each relaxation mode is assumed to be dire ctly connected with a distinct conformon. The coupling is described by an empirical power law. The actual relaxation time distribution is th en obtained by scaling each relaxation mode with the same kinetic fact or. The relaxation behavior of liquids is therefore self-similar, char acterized by individual factors such as the relaxation power, the coup ling parameter and the temperature of pressure dependence of the kinet ic factor (''shift factor'').