Memory in the relaxation of a polymer density modulation.

Abstract

Using analytical considerations and particle-based simulations of a coarse-grained model, we study the relaxation of a density modulation in a polymer system without nonbonded interactions. We demonstrate that shallow density modulations with identical amplitudes and wavevectors that have been prepared by different processes exhibit different nonexponential decay behaviors. Thus, in contrast to the popular assumption of dynamic self-consistent field theory, the density alone does not suffice to characterize the configuration of the polymer system. We provide an analytic description within Linear-Response Theory (LRT) and the Rouse model that quantitatively agree with the results of the particle-based simulations. LRT is equivalent to a generalized model-B dynamics with an Onsager coefficient that is nonlocal in space and time. Alternatively, the Rouse description can be cast into a dynamic density-functional theory that uses the full probability distribution of single-chain configurations as a dynamic variable and yields a memory-free description of the dynamics that quantitatively accounts for the dependence on the preparation process. An approximate scheme that only considers the joint distribution of the first two Rouse modes-the ellipsoid model-is also explored.