Tube Dynamics Works for Randomly Entangled Rings

The tube model is the cornerstone of molecular theory for polymer rheology. We test its microscopic assumptions by simulating topologically equilibrated ring polymers, whose dynamics is free from end segment relaxation. We show that a closed-form expression derived from the tube model adapted to ring polymers quantitatively predicts the segmental mean squared displacements over the entire range of time scales from local motion to complete equilibration, with a time-independent local friction factor.