Segment Motion in the Reptation Model of Polymer Dynamics. I. Analytical Investigation

We analyze the motion of individual beads of a polymer chain using a discrete version of De Gennes' reptation model that describes the motion of a polymer through an ordered lattice of obstacles. The motion within the tube can be evaluated rigorously, tube renewal is taken into account in an approximation motivated by random walk theory. We find microstructure effects to be present for remarkably large times and long chains, affecting essentially all present day computer experiments. The various asymptotic power laws, commonly considered as typical for reptation, hold only for extremely long chains. Furthermore, for an arbitrary segment even in a very long chain, we find a rich variety of fairly broad crossovers, which for practicably accessible chain lengths overlap and smear out the asymptotic power laws. Our analysis suggests observables specifically adapted to distinguish reptation from motions dominated by disorder of the environment.Comment: 38 pages in latex plus 8 ps figures, submitted to J. Stat. Phys. on September 18, 1997, please note part II on cond-mat/971006

Segment Motion in the Reptation Model of Polymer Dynamics. II. Simulations

We present simulation data for the motion of a polymer chain through a regular lattice of impenetrable obstacles (Evans-Edwards model). Chain lengths range from N=20 to N=640, and time up to $10^{7}$ Monte Carlo steps. For $N \geq 160$ we for the central segment find clear $t^{1/4}$-behavior as an intermediate asymptote. The also expected $t^{1/2}$-range is not yet developed. For the end segment also the $t^{1/4}$-behavior is not reached. All these data compare well to our recent analytical evaluation of the reptation model, which shows that for shorter times (t \alt 10^{4}) the discreteness of the elementary motion cannot be neglected, whereas for longer times and short chains (N \alt 100) tube renewal plays an essential role also for the central segment. Due to the very broad crossover behavior both the diffusion coefficient and the reptation time within the range of our simulation do not reach the asymptotic power laws predicted by reptation theory. We present results for the center-of-mass motion, showing the expected intermediate $t^{1/2}$-behavior, but again only for very long chains. In addition we show results for the motion of the central segment relative to the center of mass, where in some intermediate range we see the expected increase of the effective power beyond the $t^{1/4}$-law, before saturation sets in. Analysis and simulations agree on defining a new set of criteria as characteristic for reptation of finite chains.Comment: 19 pages in latex plus 13 ps figures, submitted to J. Stat. Phys. on September 18, 199

Hydrodynamic fluctuations and the minimum shear viscosity of the dilute Fermi gas at unitarity

We study hydrodynamic fluctuations in a non-relativistic fluid. We show that in three dimensions fluctuations lead to a minimum in the shear viscosity to entropy density ratio $\eta/s$ as a function of the temperature. The minimum provides a bound on $\eta/s$ which is independent of the conjectured bound in string theory, $\eta/s \geq \hbar/(4\pi k_B)$, where $s$ is the entropy density. For the dilute Fermi gas at unitarity we find \eta/s\gsim 0.2\hbar. This bound is not universal -- it depends on thermodynamic properties of the unitary Fermi gas, and on empirical information about the range of validity of hydrodynamics. We also find that the viscous relaxation time of a hydrodynamic mode with frequency $\omega$ diverges as $1/\sqrt{\omega}$, and that the shear viscosity in two dimensions diverges as $\log(1/ \omega)$.Comment: 26 pages, 5 figures; final version to appear in Phys Rev

Calculation of the persistence length of a flexible polymer chain with short range self-repulsion

For a self-repelling polymer chain consisting of n segments we calculate the persistence length L(j,n), defined as the projection of the end-to-end vector on the direction of the j`th segment. This quantity shows some pronounced variation along the chain. Using the renormalization group and epsilon-expansion we establish the scaling form and calculate the scaling function to order epsilon^2. Asymptotically the simple result L(j,n) ~ const(j(n-j)/n)^(2nu-1) emerges for dimension d=3. Also outside the excluded volume limit L(j,n) is found to behave very similar to the swelling factor of a chain of length j(n-j)/n. We carry through simulations which are found to be in good accord with our analytical results. For d=2 both our and previous simulations as well as theoretical arguments suggest the existence of logarithmic anomalies.Comment: 28 pages, 8 figures, changed conten

The connection between single transverse spin asymmetries and the second moment of g2g_2

We point out that the size of the photon single spin asymmetry in high--energy proton proton collisions with one transversely polarized proton can be related to $d^{(2)}$, the twist three contribution to the second moment of $g_2$. Both quantities should be measured in the near future. The first was analysed by Qiu and Sterman, the second was estimated by Balitsky, Braun, and Kolesnichenko. Both experiments measure effectively the strength of the collective gluon field in the nucleon oriented relative to the nucleon spin. The sum rule results suggest that the single spin asymmetry is rather small for the proton, but could be substantial for the neutron.Comment: 6 pages, UFTP preprint 348/199

Corrections to scaling in multicomponent polymer solutions

We calculate the correction-to-scaling exponent $\omega_T$ that characterizes the approach to the scaling limit in multicomponent polymer solutions. A direct Monte Carlo determination of $\omega_T$ in a system of interacting self-avoiding walks gives $\omega_T = 0.415(20)$. A field-theory analysis based on five- and six-loop perturbative series leads to $\omega_T = 0.41(4)$. We also verify the renormalization-group predictions for the scaling behavior close to the ideal-mixing point.Comment: 21 page