Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-quantum-condensed-matter-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2008/section-a/a3/f/solution

Under a step stress, the Maxwell spring extends immediately by , while the dashpot adds . Hence , and the microrheology of a Maxwell fluid relation gives
This idealized overdamped relation describes an elastic plateau followed by long-time diffusion. Its nonzero extrapolated intercept is not the actual displacement variance at exactly zero lag, which is zero. Inertia or fast solvent relaxation must resolve the initial rise; those processes were omitted from the ideal spring-dashpot model.

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