Structural relaxation of dense suspensions of soft giant micelles

The dynamics of liquid-like ordered giant colloidal micelles in the wave vector range around the peak of the structure factor is explored using photon correlation spectroscopy. No thermodynamic slowing down of the collective density fluctuations is found, whereas the long-time diffusion coefficient follows the concentration dependence of the suspension viscosity. Polymer-layer mediated effects are proposed to govern the physics of this unexpected behavior.