Long-time tails in the solid-body motion of a sphere immersed in a suspension

Abstract

Long-time tails in the translational and rotational motion of a sphere immersed in a suspension of spherical particles are discussed on the basis of the linear, time-dependent Stokes equations of hydrodynamics. It is argued that the coefficient of the t(-3/2) long-time tail of translational motion depends only on the effective mass density and shear viscosity of the suspension. A similar expression holds for the coefficient of the t(-5/2) long-time tail of rotational motion. In particular, the long-time tails are independent of the sphere radius, and therefore the expressions hold also for a particle of the suspension. On account of the fluctuation-dissipation theorem the long-time tails of the velocity autocorrelation function and the angular velocity autocorrelation function of interacting Brownian particles are also given by these expressions.