ISSN:
1089-7690
Source:
AIP Digital Archive
Topics:
Physics
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
Notes:
A generalized formulation of the Fokker–Planck equation is utilized to calculate the mean velocity and dispersivity of a flexible Brownian cluster of rigid particles which is acted upon by a time-periodic external force. It is shown that if the force consists of a nonzero mean part and a "fluctuating'' (i.e., zero mean) part, their effects are decoupled. Similarly, if a Fourier expansion of the force is carried out, the effect of each term of the expansion can be treated independently of the others. A representative force term of the form Fn exp(iωnt) +Fˆn exp(−iωnt) was selected to act upon a flexible dumbbell composed of two identical tethered spheres of radii a, with the inextensible tether acting as an "attractive'' internal potential. The dispersion tensor is found to consist of a "parallel'' contribution (directed along FnFˆn+FˆnFn) and a "hydrostatic'' contribution. This dispersion tensor depends linearly upon the scalar (Fn⋅Fˆn)a/24πμkT (μ=viscosity), approaches a constant asymptotic value for small nondimensional frequencies Ωn=12πμa3ωn/kT, and decreases asymptotically to zero for very large frequencies.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.458490
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