title: Dynamical properties of the slithering-snake algorithm: a numerical test of the activated-reptation hypothesis.
abstract: Correlations in the motion of reptating polymers in a melt are investigated by means of Monte Carlo simulations of the three-dimensional slithering-snake version of the bond-fluctuation model. Surprisingly, the slithering-snake dynamics becomes inconsistent with classical reptation predictions at high chain overlap (created either by chain length N or by the volume fraction phi of occupied lattice sites), where the relaxation times increase much faster than expected. This is due to the anomalous curvilinear diffusion in a finite time window whose upper bound tau+(N) is set by the density of chain ends phi/N. Density fluctuations created by passing chain ends allow a reference polymer to break out of the local cage of immobile obstacles created by neighboring chains. The dynamics of dense solutions of "snakes" at t<<tau+ is identical to that of a benchmark system where all chains but one are frozen. We demonstrate that the subdiffusive dynamical regime is caused by the slow creeping of a chain out of its correlation hole. Our results are in good qualitative agreement with the activated-reptation scheme proposed recently by Semenov and Rubinstein (Eur. Phys. J. B, 1 (1998) 87). Additionally, we briefly comment on the relevance of local relaxation pathways within a slithering-snake scheme. Our preliminary results suggest that a judicious choice of the ratio of local to slithering-snake moves is crucial to equilibrate a melt of long chains efficiently.
authors.affiliation: Département de Physique des Matériaux, Université Claude Bernard and CNRS, 69622 Villeurbanne Cedex, France.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mattioni
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Wittmer
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Baschnagel
authors.forename: J-L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Barrat
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Luijten