Persistence of a Rouse polymer chain under transverse shear flow
We consider a single Rouse polymer chain in two dimensions in presence of a transverse shear flow along the $x$ direction and calculate the persistence probability $P_0(t)$ that the $x$ coordinate of a bead in the bulk of the chain does not return to its initial position up to time $t$. We show that the persistence decays at late times as a power law, $P_0(t)\sim t^{-θ}$ with a nontrivial exponent $θ$. The analytical estimate of $θ=0.359...$ obtained using an independent interval approximation is in excellent agreement with the numerical value $θ\approx 0.360\pm 0.001$.