Solvent-induced memory effects in a model electrolyte
Abstract
The fluctuations of ions in polar solvents remain poorly understood theoretically due to the complex coupling between ionic motion and solvent polarization. Indeed, while all-atom resolution can be achieved in numerical simulations, analytical approaches require suitable levels of coarse-graining. In this work, we describe ions and solvent molecules as interacting Brownian particles and use stochastic density functional theory to derive a generalized Langevin equation for the ionic charge density, explicitly accounting for solvent-mediated memory effects. In the regime where there is a clear timescale separation between fast solvent and slow ion dynamics, we obtain simple expressions for dynamical charge structure factors, which are validated by BD simulations. For slow solvents, we predict an emerging two-step relaxation in ionic dynamics. These results provide a mesoscopic approach for ion-solvent dynamics and open pathways to study fluctuation-induced phenomena in electrolytes.
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BibTeX
@misc{varghese2026solventinduced,
title = {{Solvent-induced memory effects in a model electrolyte}},
author = {Sleeba Varghese and Benjamin Rotenberg and Pierre Illien},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2605.06293},
eprint = {2605.06293},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.06293},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Solvent-induced memory effects in a model electrolyte
AU - Sleeba Varghese
AU - Benjamin Rotenberg
AU - Pierre Illien
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/29
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2605.06293
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.06293
AB - The fluctuations of ions in polar solvents remain poorly understood theoretically due to the complex coupling between ionic motion and solvent polarization. Indeed, while all-atom resolution can be achieved in numerical simulations, analytical approaches require suitable levels of coarse-graining. In this work, we describe ions and solvent molecules as interacting Brownian particles and use stochastic density functional theory to derive a generalized Langevin equation for the ionic charge density, explicitly accounting for solvent-mediated memory effects. In the regime where there is a clear timescale separation between fast solvent and slow ion dynamics, we obtain simple expressions for dynamical charge structure factors, which are validated by BD simulations. For slow solvents, we predict an emerging two-step relaxation in ionic dynamics. These results provide a mesoscopic approach for ion-solvent dynamics and open pathways to study fluctuation-induced phenomena in electrolytes.
ER -