Dynamics of stiff polymer chains. III. Reduced distribution functions and the Gaussian correlated model

Abstract

Diffusion equations are formulated for the reduced distribution functions of one and two bond vectors in a chain polymer. Closure of the singlet equation is examined on the basis of a Gaussian approximation for the pair distribution function, and the complex intrinsic viscosity is calculated for a freely jointed chain. The results at all frequencies agree well with previous exact and approximate treatments of this model. The approximate closure method seems particularly suitable for application to realistic models in which small sections of the chain would be treated numerically, and coupled together analytically.