Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol.110, No.1, 639-651, 1999
The Hartree approximation in dynamics of polymeric manifolds in the melt
The Martin-Siggia-Rose functional integral technique is applied to the dynamics of a D-dimensional manifold in a melt of similar manifolds. The integration over the collective variables of the melt can be simply implemented in the framework of the dynamical random phase approximation. The resulting effective action functional of the test manifold is treated by making use of the self-consistent Hartree approximation. As an outcome the generalized Rouse equation of the test manifold is derived and its static and dynamic properties are studied. It was found that the static upper critical dimension, d(uc)= 2D/(2-D), discriminates between Gaussian (or screened) and non-Gaussian regimes, whereas its dynamical counterpart, (d) over tilde(uc) = 2d(uc), distinguishes between the simple Rouse and the renormalized Rouse behavior. We have argued that the Rouse mode correlation function has a stretched exponential form. The subdiffusional exponents for this regime are calculated explicitly. The special case of linear chains, D = 1, shows good agreement with Monte-Carlo simulations.
Keywords:MODE-COUPLING THEORY;SINE-GORDON MODEL;MOLECULAR-DYNAMICS;CHAIN TOPOLOGY;LIQUIDS;ROUSE;PREDICTIONS;SIMULATION;RELAXATION;DISORDER