Mean-atom-trajectory model for the velocity autocorrelation function of monatomic liquids

We present a model for the motion of an average atom in a liquid or supercooled liquid state and apply it to calculations of the velocity autocorrelation function Z(t) and diffusion coefficient D. The model trajectory consists of oscillations at a distribution of frequencies characteristic of the normal modes of a single potential valley, interspersed with position- and velocity-conserving transits to similar adjacent valleys. The resulting predictions for Z(t) and D agree remarkably well with molecular dynamics simulations of Na at up to almost three times its melting temperature. Two independent processes in the model relax velocity autocorrelations: (a) dephasing due to the presence of many frequency components, which operates at all temperatures but which produces no diffusion, and (b) the transit process, which increases with increasing temperature and which produces diffusion. Because the model provides a single-atom trajectory in real space and time, including transits, it may be used to calculate all single-atom correlation functions.