Rotational relaxation, anomalous diffusion

Chapter 8 by W. T. Coffey, Y. P. Kalmykov, and S. V. Titov, entitled Fractional Rotational Diffusion and Anomalous Dielectric Relaxation in Dipole Systems, provides an introduction to the theory of fractional rotational Brownian motion and microscopic models for dielectric relaxation in disordered systems. The authors indicate how anomalous relaxation has its origins in anomalous diffusion and that a physical explanation of anomalous diffusion may be given via the continuous time random walk model. It is demonstrated how this model may be used to justify the fractional diffusion equation. In particular, the Debye theory of dielectric relaxation of an assembly of polar molecules is reformulated using a fractional noninertial Fokker-Planck equation for the purpose of extending that theory to explain anomalous dielectric relaxation. Thus, the authors show how the Debye rotational diffusion model of dielectric relaxation of polar molecules (which may be described in microscopic fashion as the diffusion limit of a discrete time random walk on the surface of the unit sphere) may be extended via the continuous-time random walk to yield the empirical Cole-Cole, Cole-Davidson, and Havriliak-Negami equations of anomalous dielectric relaxation from a microscopic model based on a... 

Latora et al. [18] discussed a relation between the process of relaxation to equilibrium and anomalous diffusion in the HMF model by comparing the time series of the temperature and of the mean-squared displacement of the phases of the rotators. They showed that anomalous diffusion changes to a normal diffusion after a crossover time, and they also showed that the crossover time coincides with the time when the canonical temperature is reached. They also claim that anomalous diffusion occurs in the quasi-stationary states. 

In the present section, it is demonstrated how the linear response of an assembly of noninteracting polar Brownian particles to a small external field F applied parallel and perpendicular to the bias field Fo may be calculated in the context of the fractional noninertial rotational diffusion in the same manner as normal rotational diffusion [8]. In order to carry out the calculation, it is assumed that the rotational Brownian motion of a particle may be described by a fractional noninertial Fokker-Planck (Smoluchowski) equation, in which the inertial effects are neglected. Both exact and approximate solutions of this equation are presented. We shall demonstrate that the characteristic times of the normal diffusion process, namely, the integral and effective relaxation times obtained in Refs. 8, 65, and 67, allow one to evaluate the dielectric response for anomalous diffusion. Moreover, these characteristic times yield a simple analytical equation for the complex dielectric susceptibility tensor describing the anomalous relaxation of the system. The exact solution of the problem reduces to the solution of the infinite hierarchies of differential-recurrence equations for the corresponding relaxation functions. The longitudinal and transverse components of the susceptibility tensor may be calculated exactly from the Laplace transform of these relaxation functions using linear response theory [72]. 

FRACTIONAL ROTATIONAL DIFFUSION AND ANOMALOUS DIELECTRIC RELAXATION IN DIPOLE SYSTEMS... 

C. Anomalous Dielectric Relaxation in the Context of the Debye Noninertial Rotational Diffusion Model... 

Another most important question in anomalous dielectric relaxation is the physical interpretation of the parameters a and v in the various relaxation formulas and what are the physical conditions that give rise to these parameters. Here we shall give a reasonably convincing derivation of the fractional Smoluckowski equation from the discrete orientation model of dielectric relaxation. In the continuum limit of the orientation sites, such an approach provides a justification for the fractional diffusion equation used in the explanation of the Cole-Cole equation. Moreover, the fundamental solution of that equation for the free rotator will, by appealing to self-similarity, provide some justification for the neglect of spatial derivatives of higher order than the second in the Kramers-Moyal expansion. In order to accomplish this, it is first necessary to explain the concept of the continuous-time random walk (CTRW). 

In order to demonstrate how the anomalous relaxation behavior described by the hitherto empirical Eqs. (9)—(11) may be obtained from our fractional generalizations of the Fokker-Planck equation in configuration space (in effect, fractional Smoluchowski equations), Eq. (101), we first consider the fractional rotational motion of a fixed axis rotator [1], which for the normal diffusion is the first Debye model (see Section II.C). The orientation of the dipole is specified by the angular coordinate 4> (the azimuth) constituting a system of one rotational degree of freedom. Electrical interactions between the dipoles are ignored. 

Anomalous rotational diffusion in a potential may be treated by using the fractional equivalent of the diffusion equation in a potential [7], This diffusion equation allows one to include explicitly in Frohlich s model as generalized to fractional dynamics (i) the influence of the dissipative coupling to the heat bath on the Arrhenius (overbarrier) process and (ii) the influence of the fast (high-frequency) intrawell relaxation modes on the relaxation process. The fractional translational diffusion in a potential is discussed in detail in Refs. 7 and 31. Here, just as the fractional translational diffusion treated in Refs. 7 and 31, we consider fractional rotational subdiffusion (0rotation about fixed axis in a potential Vo(< >)- We suppose that a uniform field Fi (having been applied to the assembly of dipoles at a time t = oo so that equilibrium conditions prevail by the time t = 0) is switched off at t = 0. In addition, we suppose that the field is weak (i.e., pFj linear response condition). 

As far as comparison with experimental data is concerned, the fractional Klein-Kramers model under discussion may be suitable for the explanation of dielectric relaxation of dilute solution of polar molecules (such as CHCI3, CH3CI, etc.) in nonpolar glassy solvents (such as decalin at low temperatures see, e.g., Ref. 93). Here, in contrast to the normal diffusion, the model can explain qualitatively the inertia-corrected anomalous (Cole-Cole-like) dielectric relaxation behavior of such solutions at low frequencies. However, one would expect that the model is not applicable at high frequencies (in the far-infrared region), where the librational character of the rotational motion must be taken... 

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