Poles of hydrodynamic spectral functions and Einstein–Helfand formulas for transport coefficients

Abstract

Abstract The local-equilibrium approach to transport processes is related to an approach based on time-dependent correlation functions and their associated spectral functions characterizing the equilibrium fluctuations of particles, momentum and other densities. On the one hand, transport coefficients are calculated with the Einstein–Helfand formulas derived in the local-equilibrium approach. On the other hand, the poles of the spectral functions at complex frequencies give the damping rates of the hydrodynamic modes. Since these rates also depend on the transport coefficients, their values can be compared to the predictions of the local-equilibrium approach. This comparison is systematically carried out for a hard-sphere fluid by numerically computing the transport coefficients, the spectral functions and their poles as a function of the wave number in the hydrodynamic limit. The study shows the consistency between the two approaches for the determination of transport properties.