Modeling dynamically heterogeneous coupled relaxations - art. no. 041202

A model describing dynamically heterogeneous relaxation in complex coupled systems is presented. The model predicts the splitting of a high-temperatur e single Debye relaxation to a low-temperature bimodal relaxation. The bimo dal process shows a crossover from a Debye-type relaxation to an approximat ely stretched-exponential relaxation. Some general features of relaxation i n complex systems emerge from the predictions of the model, and a compariso n of the model with experiments is reported.