SLOW DYNAMICS OF SELF-DIFFUSION IN METASTABLE COLLOIDAL FLUIDS

A simple theory for nonequilibrium density fluctuations in concentrate d hard-sphere suspensions of interacting Brownian particles with both hydrodynamic and direct interactions is proposed. The correlation effe cts due to the many-body hydrodynamic interactions among particles are shown to cause a structural arrest in the relaxation of nonequilibriu m density fluctuations. A volume fraction dependence of slow relaxatio n process in concentrated colloidal suspensions is thus explored from a new unifying point of view.