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We investigate how the dynamics of a single chain influences the kinetics ofearly stage phase separation in a symmetric binary polymer mixture. We considerquenches from the disordered phase into the region of spinodal instability. Ona mean field level we approach this problem with two methods: a dynamicalextension of the self consistent field theory for Gaussian chains, with thedensity variables evolving in time, and the method of the external potentialdynamics where the effective external fields are propagated in time. Differentwave vector dependencies of the kinetic coefficient are taken into account.These early stages of spinodal decomposition are also studied through MonteCarlo simulations employing the bond fluctuation model that maps the chains --in our case with 64 effective segments -- on a coarse grained lattice. Theresults obtained through self consistent field calculations and Monte Carlosimulations can be compared because the time, length, and temperature scalesare mapped onto each other through the diffusion constant, the chain extension,and the energy of mixing. The quantitative comparison of the relaxation rate ofthe global structure factor shows that a kinetic coefficient according to theRouse model gives a much better agreement than a local, i.e. wave vectorindependent, kinetic factor. Including fluctuations in the self consistentfield calculations leads to a shorter time span of spinodal behaviour and areduction of the relaxation rate for smaller wave vectors and prevents therelaxation rate from becoming negative for larger values of the wave vector.This is also in agreement with the simulation results.Comment: Phys.Rev.E in prin

Spinodal decomposition in a binary polymer mixture: Dynamic self-consistent-field theory and Monte Carlo simulations