How different is a hard-sphere fluid from a suspension of hard-sphere colloids near the glass transition?

This paper compares simulation and experiment to verify how a hard-sphere fluid is different from a suspension of hard-sphere colloids near the glass transition at 6% polydispersity. This is done by performing extensive molecular-dynamic simulations and by analyzing the resultant mean-square displacement from a unified viewpoint based on the mean-field theory proposed recently by Tokuyama [Physica A 364 (2006) 23–62]. The remarkable similarities are found in various physical quantities between two systems, except their phase diagrams, in which the experiment shows the glass transition, while the simulation shows the temporal re-entrant melting (transition from crystal to supercooled liquid) followed by the glass transition within a limited waiting time of order 8.4×104 in a dimensionless unit.