Biomedical subjects

William T Coffey

Publications and source records attributed to William T Coffey.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Fractional translational diffusion of a Brownian particle in a double well potential.

The fractional translational diffusion of a particle in a double-well potential (excluding inertial effects) is considered. The position correlation function and its spectrum are evaluated using a fractional probability density diffusion equation (based on the diffusion limit of a fractal time random walk). Exact and approximate solutions for the dynamic susceptibility describing the position response to a small external field are obtained. The exact solution is given by matrix continued fractions while the approximate solution relies on the exponential separation of the time scales of the fast "intrawell" and low overbarrier relaxation processes associated with the bistable potential. It is shown that knowledge of the characteristic relaxation times for normal diffusion allows one to predict accurately the anomalous relaxation behavior of the system for all relevant time scales.

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PubMed2005

Thermally activated escape rate for the Brownian motion of a fixed axis rotator in an asymmetrical double-well potential for all values of the dissipation.

The Kramers theory of the escape rate of a Brownian particle from a potential well as extended by Mel'nikov and Meshkov is used to evaluate the relaxation times and the dynamic susceptibility for the rotational Brownian motion of fixed axis rotators in an asymmetric double-well potential. An expression for the escape rate valid for all values of the dissipation including the very low damping (VLD), very high damping (VHD), and crossover regimes is derived. It is shown that this expression provides a good asymptotic estimate of the inverse of the smallest nonvanishing eigenvalue lambda(1) of the underlying Fokker-Planck operator calculated by using the matrix-continued fraction method. For low barriers, where the Mel'nikov and Meshkov approach is not applicable, analytic equations for the correlation time tau( parallel) of the longitudinal dipole correlation function in the VLD and VHD limits are derived and a simple extrapolating equation valid for all values of the damping is proposed.

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PubMed2005

Fractional rotational diffusion of rigid dipoles in an asymmetrical double-well potential.

The longitudinal and transverse components of the complex dielectric susceptibility tensor of an assembly of dipolar molecules rotating in an asymmetric double-well potential are evaluated using a fractional rotational diffusion equation (based on the diffusion limit of a fractal time random walk) for the distribution function of orientations of the molecules on the surface of the unit sphere. The calculation is the fractional analog of the Debye theory of orientational relaxation in the presence of external and mean field potentials (excluding inertial effects). Exact and approximate (based on the exponential separation for normal diffusion of the time scales of the intrawell and overbarrier relaxation processes associated with the bistable potential) solutions for the dielectric dispersion and absorption spectra are obtained. It is shown that a knowledge of the characteristic relaxation times for normal rotational diffusion is sufficient to predict accurately the anomalous dielectric relaxation behavior of the system for all time scales of interest. The model explains the anomalous (Cole-Cole-like) relaxation of complex dipolar systems, where the anomalous exponent differs from unity (corresponding to the normal dielectric relaxation), i.e., the relaxation process is characterized by a broad distribution of relaxation times (e.g., in glass-forming liquids).

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PubMed2004

Microscopic models for dielectric relaxation in disordered systems.

It is shown 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 to yield the empirical Havriliak-Negami (HN) equation of anomalous dielectric relaxation from a microscopic model based on a kinetic equation just as in the Debye model. This kinetic equation is obtained by means of a generalization of the noninertial Fokker-Planck equation of conventional Brownian motion (generally known as the Smoluchowski equation) to fractional kinetics governed by the HN relaxation mechanism. For the simple case of noninteracting dipoles it may be solved by Fourier transform techniques to yield the Green function and the complex dielectric susceptibility corresponding to the HN anomalous relaxation mechanism.

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PubMed2004

Thermally activated escape rate for the Brownian motion of a fixed axis rotator in a double well potential for all values of the dissipation.

The extension of the Kramers theory of the escape rate of a Brownian particle from a potential well to the entire range of damping proposed by Mel'nikov and Meshkov [J. Chem, Phys. 85, 1018 (1986)] is applied to the rotational Brownian motion of fixed axis rotators in a double well cosine potential. The procedure yields an expression for the Kramers escape rate valid for all values of the dissipation including the very low damping (VLD), very high damping (VHD), and crossover regimes. This equation provides a good asymptotic estimate of the correlation time tau per pendicular of the longitudinal dipole moment correlation function calculated by solving the underlying Langevin equation using the matrix-continued fraction method. Moreover, for low barriers, where the Mel'nikov and Meshkov approach is not applicable, analytic equations for tau in the VLD and VHD limits are derived and a simple extrapolating equation that is valid for all values of the damping is proposed.

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PubMed2004

Inertial effects in anomalous dielectric relaxation of symmetrical top molecules.

The linear dielectric response of an assembly of noninteracting symmetrical top molecules (each of which is free to rotate in space) is evaluated in the context of fractional dynamics. The infinite hierarchy of differential-recurrence relations for the relaxation functions appropriate to the dielectric response is derived by using the underlying inertial fractional Klein-Kramers equation. On solving this hierarchy in terms of matrix continued fractions (as in the normal rotational diffusion), the complex dynamic susceptibility is obtained and is calculated for typical values of the model parameters. For the limiting case of spherical top molecules, the solution is obtained in terms of an ordinary continued fraction. It is shown that the model can reproduce nonexponential anomalous dielectric relaxation behavior at low frequencies (omegatau<or=1, where tau is the Debye relaxation time) and the inclusion of inertial effects ensures that optical transparency is regained at very high frequencies (in the far infrared region) so that Gordon's sum rule for integral dipolar absorption is satisfied.

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PubMed2004

Bimodal approximation for anomalous diffusion in a potential.

Exact and approximate solutions of the fractional diffusion equation for an assembly of fixed-axis dipoles are derived for anomalous noninertial rotational diffusion in a double-well potential. It is shown that knowledge of three time constants characterizing the normal diffusion, viz., the integral relaxation time, the effective relaxation time, and the inverse of the smallest eigenvalue of the Fokker-Planck operator, is sufficient to accurately predict the anomalous relaxation behavior for all time scales of interest.

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PubMed2002

Inertial effects in the anomalous dielectric relaxation of rotators in space.

The linear dielectric response of an assembly of noninteracting linear (needlelike) dipole molecules (each of which is free to rotate in space) is evaluated in the context of fractional dynamics. The infinite hierarchy of differential-recurrence relations for the relaxation functions appropriate to the dielectric response is derived by using the underlying inertial fractional Fokker-Planck (fractional Klein-Kramers) equation. On solving this hierarchy in terms of continued fractions (as in the normal rotational diffusion), the complex dynamic susceptibility is obtained and is calculated for typical values of the model parameters. It is shown that the model can reproduce nonexponential anomalous dielectric relaxation behavior at low frequencies (omega tau< or =1, where tau is the Debye relaxation time) and the inclusion of inertial effects ensures that optical transparency is regained at very high frequencies (in the far infrared region) so that Gordon's sum rule for integral dipolar absorption is satisfied.

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