Inertialess Langevin equations, constrained

The present analysis builds directly on three previous analyses of SDEs for constrained systems by Fixman [9], Hinch [10], and Ottinger [11]. Fixman and Hinch both considered an interpretation of the inertialess Langevin equation as a limit of an ordinary differential equation with a finite, continuous random force. Both authors found that, to obtain the correct drift velocity and equilibrium distribution, it was necessary to supplement forces arising from derivatives of C/eff = U — kT n by an additional corrective pseudoforce, but obtained inconsistent results for the form of the required correction force. Ottinger [11] based his analysis on an Ito interpretation of SDEs for both generalized and Cartesian coordinates, and thereby obtained results that... 

The inertialess Langevin equation for the Cartesian bead positions of a constrained system may be formulated as a limit of a set of ODEs containing rapidly varying constraint forces, which must be chosen so as keep the instantaneous bead velocities always tangent to the constraint surface. We consider a Langevin equation... 

Constraints may be introduced either into the classical mechanical equations of motion (i.e., Newton s or Hamilton s equations, or the corresponding inertial Langevin equations), which attempt to resolve the ballistic motion observed over short time scales, or into a theory of Brownian motion, which describes only the diffusive motion observed over longer time scales. We focus here on the latter case, in which constraints are introduced directly into the theory of Brownian motion, as described by either a diffusion equation or an inertialess stochastic differential equation. Although the analysis given here is phrased in quite general terms, it is motivated primarily by the use of constrained mechanical models to describe the dynamics of polymers in solution, for which the slowest internal motions are accurately described by a purely diffusive dynamical model. 

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