Topological Dissipation as the Missing Link in Multiscale Polymer Dynamics

TL;DR

This paper introduces topological dissipation as a crucial mechanism linking atomistic and mesoscale polymer dynamics, providing a new coarse-grained framework that accurately captures a wide range of polymer behaviors.

Contribution

It identifies topological dissipation as the missing link in multiscale polymer dynamics and develops a coarse-grained model that separates dissipation channels without memory kernels.

Findings

Quantitative agreement with polymer dynamics across scales

Dynamical correlation length relates to Kuhn length as n_d ≈ n_k/3

Framework resolves long-standing memory preservation issues

Abstract

We identify topological dissipation -- momentum transport along the polymer backbone with Ising-type exponential decay ($\sim \exp(-\Delta n/n_\text{d})$) -- as the missing link connecting atomistic and mesoscale dynamics. Simulations of four polymers reveal that dynamical correlation length $n_\text{d} \approx n_\text{k}/3$ (Kuhn length $n_\text{k}$), enabling a coarse-grained framework that \emph{explicitly separates} topological (intrachain) and spatial (interchain) dissipation channels without temporal memory kernels. The approach quantitatively reproduces dynamics from segmental relaxation to chain diffusion, solving the long-standing memory preservation challenge in Markovian coarse-graining. Our results establish topology-mediated dissipation as a key mechanism for polymer dynamics.