Generalized Langevin theory for inhomogeneous fluids: The equations of motion

Abstract

We use the generalized Langevin approach to study the dynamical correlations in an inhomogeneous system. The equations of motion (formally exact) are obtained for the number density, momentum density, energy density, stress tensor, and heat flux. We evaluate all the relevant sum rules appearing in the frequency matrix exactly in terms of microscopic pair potentials and an external field. We show using functional derivatives how these microscopic sum rules relate to more familiar, though now nonlocal, hydrodynamiclike quantities. The set of equations is closed by a Markov approximation in the equations for stress tensor and heat flux. As a result, these equations become analogous to Grad's 13-moment equations for low-density fluids and constitute a generalization to inhomogeneous fluids of the work of Schofield and Akcasu-Daniels. We also indicate how the resulting general set of equations would simplify for systems in which the inhomogeneity is unidirectional, e.g., a liquid-vapor interface. © 1982 The American Physical Society.