Resolving coupled transport in space and time from molecular fluctuations in confined fluids

2026/08/05 by Thê Hoang Ngoc Minh, Ian C. Bourg
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat.stat-mech #cond-mat.mes-hall #physics.comp-ph #physics.flu-dyn

paper · pdf

38 pages total, including 17 pages of Supplementary Materials; 5 figures (3 main, 2 supplementary) and 2 supplementary tables

arxiv created 2026/08/05 · arxiv updated 2026/08/06

Abstract

Transport in fluids is generally reduced to continuum laws parametrized by bulk coefficients and effective interfacial parameters, such as viscosities, diffusivities, slip lengths, and interfacial resistances. This description becomes incomplete at the nanoscale, where spatial heterogeneity, molecular structure, and finite relaxation times are inseparable from the transport process. Here we formulate coupled transport in nanoconfined fluids as a space--time-resolved Onsager response matrix and extract it from equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations. Applied to a confined charged fluid, the framework resolves the nonlocal and transient pathways coupling particle, solute, heat, and charge transport. Momentum transport appears as a long-lived, nonlocal hydrodynamic mode, whereas charge transport relaxes rapidly through localized ionic friction. Off-diagonal responses reveal distinct projected dynamics, providing a microscopic basis for nonlocal, history-dependent transport laws.

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