The continuous-time random walk (CTRW) describes the single-particle dynamics as a series of jumps separated by random waiting times. This description is applied to analyze trajectories from molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of a supercooled polymer melt. Based on the algorithm presented by Helfferich et al. [Phys. Rev. E 89, 042603 (2014)], we detect jump events of the monomers. As a function of temperature and chain length, we examine key distributions of the CTRW: the jump-length distribution (JLD), the waiting-time distribution (WTD), and the persistence-time distribution (PTD), i.e., the distribution of waiting times for the first jump. For the equilibrium (polymer) liquid under consideration, we verify that the PTD is determined by the WTD. For the mean-square displacement (MSD) of a monomer, the results for the CTRW model are compared with the underlying MD data. The MD data exhibit two regimes of subdiffusive behavior, one for the early $\alpha$ process and another at later times due to chain connectivity. By contrast, the analytical solution of the CTRW yields diffusive behavior for the MSD at all times. Empirically, we can account for the effect of chain connectivity in Monte Carlo simulations of the CTRW. The results of these simulations are then in good agreement with the MD data in the connectivity-dominated regime, but not in the early $\alpha$ regime where they systematically underestimate the MSD from the MD.

• Received 17 December 2013
• Revised 14 February 2014

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.89.042604