Unveiling diffusive states from center-of-mass trajectories in glassy dynamics

We propose a method to detect alternating diffusive states undergoing a free diffusive state and a trapped state described by the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process. Using a stochastic model with alternating diffusive states, a phenomenological model of glassy dynamics, we show that control parameters in the method may be determined by the mean square displacement and the non-Gaussianity parameter. Our method works when diffusivities for the two states are clearly distinct and all the states last longer than a specified relaxation time. Applying our method to molecular dynamics simulation data of supercooled liquids, we show that trapped states last for a long time and the sojourn-time distribution for trapped states becomes a power-law form as the temperature approaches the glass temperature.