Macromolecular liquids display short-time anomalous behaviors in disagreement with
conventional single-molecule mean-field theories. In this study, we analyze the behavior of the
simplest but most realistic macromolecular system that displays anomalous dynamics, i.e., a melt
of short homopolymer chains, starting from molecular dynamics simulation trajectories. Our study
sheds some light on the microscopic molecular mechanisms responsible for the observed anomalous
behavior. The relevance of the correlation hole, a unique property of polymer liquids, in relation to
the observed subdiffusive dynamics, naturally emerges from the analysis of the van Hove distribution
functions and other properties.
