Structural fluctuations in glass-forming liquids: Mössbauer spectroscopy on iron in glycerol.

M\"ossbauer absorption spectra of $^{57}\mathrm{Fe}^{2+}$ dissolved in a glycerol-water mixture have been measured over a wide temperature range (80--275 K). In the supercooled liquid state the shapes of the spectra depend strongly on temperature. The M\"ossbauer spectra can be fit with jump diffusion with a Cole-Davidson distribution of fluctuation times. The results are in agreement with those obtained from dielectric and ultrasonic volume relaxations, proving that the \ensuremath{\alpha} relaxation of viscous liquids is responsible for the line broadening of the spectra. From the temperature dependence of the integrated area of the M\"ossbauer spectrum a second dynamic process is inferre…