  A mean-field kinetic model suggests that the relaxation dynamics of wormlike
micellar networks is a long and complex process due to the problem of reducing
the number of free end-caps (or dangling ends) while also reaching an
equilibrium level of branching after an earlier overgrowth. The model is
validated against mesoscopic molecular dynamics simulations and is based on
kinetic equations accounting for scission and synthesis processes of blobs of
surfactants. A long relaxation time scale is reached both with thermal quenches
and small perturbations of the system. The scaling of this relaxation time is
exponential with the free energy of an end cap and with the branching free
energy. We argue that the subtle end-recombination dynamics might yield effects
that are difficult to detect in rheology experiments, with possible
underestimates of the typical time scales of viscoelastic fluids.
