Accurate analytical calculation of the rate coefficient for the diffusion-controlled reactions due to hyperbolic diffusion

Abstract

Using an approach based on the diffusion analog of the Cattaneo–Vernotte differential model, we find the exact analytical solution to the corresponding time-dependent linear hyperbolic initial boundary value problem, describing irreversible diffusion-controlled reactions under Smoluchowski’s boundary condition on a spherical sink. By means of this solution, we extend exact analytical calculations for the time-dependent classical Smoluchowski rate coefficient to the case that includes the so-called inertial effects, occurring in the host media with finite relaxation times. We also present a brief survey of Smoluchowski’s theory and its various subsequent refinements, including works devoted to the description of the short-time behavior of Brownian particles. In this paper, we managed to show that a known Rice’s formula, commonly recognized earlier as an exact reaction rate coefficient for the case of hyperbolic diffusion, turned out to be only its approximation being a uniform upper bound of the exact value. Here, the obtained formula seems to be of great significance for bridging a known gap between an analytically estimated rate coefficient on the one hand and molecular dynamics simulations together with experimentally observed results for the short times regime on the other hand. A particular emphasis has been placed on the rigorous mathematical treatment and important properties of the relevant initial boundary value problems in parabolic and hyperbolic diffusion theories.