Theory of the $\beta$-Relaxation Beyond Mode-Coupling Theory: A Microscopic Treatment

Abstract

We develop a systematic extension of mode-coupling theory (MCT) that incorporates critical dynamical fluctuations. Starting from a microscopic diagrammatic theory, we identify dominant classes of divergent diagrams near the mode-coupling transition and show that the corresponding asymptotic series dominates the mean-field below an upper critical dimension $d_c=8$. To resum these divergences, we construct a mapping to a stochastic dynamical process in which the order parameter evolves under random spatiotemporal fields. This reformulation provides a controlled, fully dynamical derivation of an effective theory for the $\beta$-relaxation which remarkably coincides with stochastic beta-relaxation theory [T. Rizzo, EPL 106, 56003 (2014)]. All coupling constants of the latter theory are expressed microscopically in terms of the liquid static structure factor and are computed for the paradigmatic hard-sphere system. The analysis demonstrates that fluctuations alone restore ergodicity and replace the putative mean-field transition by a smooth crossover. Our results establish a predictive framework for structural relaxation beyond mean-field.