Derivation of Stokes' law from Kirkwood's formula and the Green-Kubo formula via large deviation theory (Q895487)

The authors study the friction coefficient of a macroscopic sphere in a viscous fluid at low Reynolds number. A Hamiltonian particle model consisting of \(N\) bath particles and one macroscopic particle representing the sphere is used. The Hamiltonian consists of kinetic energy and two interaction potentials: one between bath particles being short-range and the other being of hard-sphere type along the macroscopic sphere. By applying an impulsive force and assuming a linear response regime, the authors are able to derive Kirkwood's formula for the friction coefficient within this model stating: The friction coefficient can be expressed in terms of the stress correlation on the surface of the macroscopic sphere. To obtain Stokes' law from Kirkwood's formula without explicitly using Stokes equations as low Reynolds limit of the Navier-Stokes equations, the authors define the viscosity of the fluid by the stress fluctuations in the bulk with the help of the Green-Kubo formula. Stokes' law will then follow by relating the bulk stress correlation to the surface stress correlation. A coarse-graining in space and time-averages allow, under the assumption of local central limit theorems, the derivation of a probability density of the now macroscopic bulk stresses. This probability distribution is given in terms of a large deviation rate function. By Kirkwood's formula the surface stress is a suitable integration of the macroscopic bulk stresses over the sphere. Therewith, the probability distribution of the surfaces stresses is obtained by contracting the large deviation rate function of the bulk stresses along this integral representation. This contraction is implemented via a saddle-point method, which results in Stokes' law. Alternatively, in the appendix, a derivation via fluctuating hydrodynamics is given. Moreover, Stokes' law for a macroscopic sphere with rough surface is derived by a suitable change of the boundary condition of the bath particles on the sphere.