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Theory and modeling of molecular modes in the NMR relaxation of fluids

Traditional theories of the NMR autocorrelation function for intramolecular dipole pairs assume single-exponential decay, yet the calculated autocorrelation of realistic systems display a rich, multi-exponential behavior resulting in anomalous NMR relaxation dispersion (i.e., frequency dependence). We develop an approach to model and interpret the multi-exponential autocorrelation using simple, physical models within a rigorous statistical mechanical development that encompasses both rotational and translational diffusion in the same framework. We recast the problem of evaluating the autocorrelation in terms of averaging over a diffusion propagator whose evolution is described by a Fokker-Planck equation. The time-independent part admits an eigenfunction expansion, allowing us to write the propagator as a sum over modes. Each mode has a spatial part that depends on the specified eigenfunction, and a temporal part that depends on the corresponding eigenvalue (i.e., correlation time) with a simple, exponential decay. The spatial part is a probability distribution of the dipole-pair, analogous to the stationary states of a quantum harmonic oscillator. Drawing inspiration from the idea of inherent structures in liquids, we interpret each of the spatial contributions as a specific molecular mode. These modes can be used to model and predict NMR dipole-dipole relaxation dispersion of fluids by incorporating phenomena on the molecular level. We validate our statistical mechanical description of the distribution in molecular modes with molecular dynamics simulations interpreted without any relaxation models or adjustable parameters: the most important poles in the Pad{é}-Laplace transform of the simulated autocorrelation agree with the eigenvalues predicted by the theory.