For the equilibrium generalized Langevin equation with unit mass, the random force has zero mean and the displayed autocorrelation, where is the equilibrium velocity variance. If the deterministic relaxation is stable, and , then the stationary velocity autocorrelation function is , equivalently
One proof uses the power spectral density. The even force autocorrelation has spectrum . With transfer function , the velocity spectrum is , the spectrum of the even extension of . Stability removes initial transients with finite second moment. A valid force autocorrelation must have nonnegative power spectral density; an arbitrary proposed memory kernel does not automatically satisfy this condition.
For a stationary zero-mean velocity with an absolutely integrable velocity autocorrelation function , the diffusion coefficient is its time integral. Indeed, differentiation of the mean squared displacement identity gives , and the right side tends to the displayed integral. In the equilibrium generalized Langevin equation, this gives whenever stable relaxation and the required integrability hold. The formula is named after Melville S. Green and Ryogo Kubo.
Memory kernel 2026-10-25
A function weighting the influence of past values in a history-dependent equation. In a Volterra integral equation its convolution with the history is causal: only earlier times appear. For an integrable kernel, measures its response to a constant input. In a generalized Langevin equation, the friction memory kernel records delayed resistance to the velocity.
We use the equilibrium generalized Langevin equation and its generalized fluctuation-dissipation relation, with the factor in the noise autocorrelation fixing the equilibrium velocity variance. Let be the velocity relaxation function and let a tilde denote a one-sided Laplace transform:
The equilibrium velocity autocorrelation function is , so
For completeness, this relation follows without assuming independence of the noise and velocity in a stationary infinite history. The two-sided noise power spectral density is . The stable linear equation has velocity transfer function , so
This is precisely the power spectral density of the even extension of . Stable relaxation removes initial transients with a finite second moment, giving the long-time autocorrelation function defined in the question. All the parameter choices used below have stable relaxation.
Integrating the velocity autocorrelation function twice gives the mean squared displacement from a fixed initial position:
A decaying initial transient does not change its asymptotic slope. Therefore the Green-Kubo formula for diffusion gives
For the given friction memory kernel, direct integration yields
At , the integrated friction is , hence
The relaxation denominator here is . Its roots have negative real parts by the cubic Routh-Hurwitz criterion, since all coefficients are positive and . This justifies the decay and integrability used above. The diffusion coefficient depends on the area under the friction memory kernel, not just its value at zero.