The generalized Langevin equation in harmonic potentials: Anomalous diffusion and equipartition of energy

Abstract

We consider the generalized Langevin equation (GLE) in a harmonic potential with power law decay memory. We study the anomalous diffusion of the particle's displacement and velocity. By comparison with the free particle situation in which the velocity was previously shown to be either diffusive or subdiffusive, we find that, when trapped in a harmonic potential, the particle's displacement may either be diffusive or superdiffusive. Under slightly stronger assumptions on the memory kernel, namely, for kernels related to the broad class of completely monotonic functions, we show that both the free particle and the harmonically bounded GLE satisfy the equipartition of energy condition. This generalizes previously known results for the GLE under particular kernel instances such as the generalized Rouse kernel or (exactly) a power law function.