An Asymptotic Theory for the Re-Equilibration of a Micellar Surfactant Solution.

Micellar surfactant solutions are characterized by a distribution of aggregates made up predominantly of premicellar aggregates (monomers, dimers, trimers, etc.) and a region of proper micelles close to the peak aggregation number, connected by an intermediate region containing a very low concentration of aggregates. Such a distribution gives rise to a distinct two-timescale re-equilibration following a system dilution, known as the tau(1) and tau(2) processes, whose dynamics may be described by the Becker-Doring equations. We use a continuum version of these equations to develop a reduced asymptotic description that elucidates the behavior during each of these processes.