We investigate numerically the dynamical behavior of a polymer chain collapsing in a dilute solution. The rate of collapse is measured with and without the presence of hydrodynamic interactions. We find that hydrodynamic interactions accelerate polymer collapse. We present a scaling theory describing the physical process responsible for the collapse kinetics. Predicted collapse times in a hydrodynamic $({\tau }_H\sim N^{4∕3})$ and a Brownian heat bath $({\tau }_B\sim N^2)$ agree well with the numerical results (${\tau }_H\sim N^{1.40\pm 0.08}$ and ${\tau }_B\sim N^{1.89\pm 0.09}$) where $N$ denotes chain length. The folding kinetics of Go models of proteins is also examined. We show that for these systems, where many free energy minima compete, hydrodynamics has little effect on the kinetics.

• Received 20 September 2004

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.71.061804