Dynamics of uniaxial hard ellipsoids

We study the dynamics of monodisperse hard ellipsoids via a new event-driven molecular dynamics algorithm as a function of volume fraction phi and aspect ratio X-0. We evaluate the translational D-trans and the rotational D-rot diffusion coefficients and the associated isodiffusivity lines in the phi-X-0 plane. We observe a decoupling of the translational and rotational dynamics which generates an almost perpendicular crossing of the D-trans and D-rot isodiffusivity lines. While the self-intermediate scattering function exhibits stretched relaxation, i.e., glassy dynamics, only for large phi and X-0 approximate to 1, the second order orientational correlator C-2(t) shows stretching only for large and small X-0 values. We discuss these findings in the context of a possible prenematic order driven glass transition.