Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol.105, No.21, 9695-9697, 1996
Long-Time Behavior of the Angular Velocity Autocorrelation Function
In this Communication we present a hydrodynamic analysis to show that the asymptotic long-time tail of the angular velocity autocorrelation function of a Brownian particle is independent of the particle’s size or shape-a result in agreement with simulation and in accord with previous predictions from microscopic theories. The reason that earlier hydrodynamic treatments had predicted a shape dependent tail is because they implicitly assumed the particle to have a fixed orientation. Reorientation of the particle must be included to obtain the true long-time behavior.