Microscopic approach to understand Brownian dynamics in viscoelastic fluid

TL;DR

This paper develops a microscopic framework for viscoelastic fluids starting from the Stokes-Oldroyd B Model, deriving frequency-dependent viscosity, and applying it to analyze Brownian motion and related parameters in viscoelastic environments.

Contribution

It introduces a microscopic derivation of viscoelasticity that connects to macroscopic models and applies this to Brownian dynamics analysis.

Findings

Derived frequency-dependent viscosity expression

Mapped microscopic model to Jeffreys' macroscopic model

Analyzed Brownian motion parameters in viscoelastic fluids

Abstract

We present an entirely microscopic formulation of viscoleasticity of a fluid starting from the microscopic Stokes-Oldroyd B Model assuming instantaneous hydrodynamic friction, and show that linearization leads to a form for the frequency dependent viscosity that can be directly applied to the Langevin equation. Interestingly, the calculated expression of viscosity can be directly mapped to the Jeffreys' model which is essentially macroscopic in nature with the bulk viscoelasticity of the fluid being characterized by a complex elastic modulus G(\omega). Further, we demonstrate that the concerned Green's function is same as that in an incompressible, low Reynold's number Newtonian fluid with the simple incorporation of frequency dependence in the viscosity term. We proceed to evaluate the trajectory of a free Brownian particle in a viscoelastic environment using our formalism and calculate parameters such as the power spectral density, the autocorrelation function and the mean-square displacement, which we then extend to the particle confined in a harmonic potential in the fluid.