Pacman percolation and the glass transition

We investigate via Monte Carlo simulations the kinetically constrained Kob-Andersen lattice glass model showing that, contrary to current expectations, the relaxation process and the dynamical heterogeneities seems to be characterized by different time scales. Indeed, we found that the relaxation time is related to a reverse percolation transition, whereas the time of maximum heterogeneity is related to the spatial correlation between particles. This investigation leads to a geometrical interpretation of the relaxation processes and of the different observed time scales. © 2013 World Scientific Publishing Company.