We implement a standard Monte Carlo algorithm to study the slow, equilibrium
dynamics of a silica melt in a wide temperature regime, from 6100 K down to
2750 K. We find that the average dynamical behaviour of the system is in
quantitative agreement with results obtained from molecular dynamics
simulations, at least in the long-time regime corresponding to the
alpha-relaxation. By contrast, the strong thermal vibrations related to the
Boson peak present at short times in molecular dynamics are efficiently
suppressed by the Monte Carlo algorithm. This allows us to reconsider silica
dynamics in the context of mode-coupling theory, because several shortcomings
of the theory were previously attributed to thermal vibrations. A mode-coupling
theory analysis of our data is qualitatively correct, but quantitative tests of
the theory fail, raising doubts about the very existence of an avoided
singularity in this system. We discuss the emergence of dynamic heterogeneity
and report detailed measurements of a decoupling between translational
diffusion and structural relaxation, and of a growing four-point dynamic
susceptibility. Dynamic heterogeneity appears to be less pronounced than in
more fragile glass-forming models, but not of a qualitatively different nature.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures; to be published in Phys. Rev.