English

Bundle formation in parallel aligned polymers with competing interactions

Soft Condensed Matter 2016-06-22 v3

Abstract

Aggregation of like-charged polymers is widely observed in biological and soft matter systems. In many systems, bundles are formed when a short-range attraction of diverse physical origin like charge-bridging, hydrogen-bonding or hydrophobic interaction, overcomes the longer- range charge repulsion. In this Letter, we present a general mechanism of bundle formation in these systems as the breaking of the translational invariance in parallel aligned polymers with competing interactions of this type. We derive a criterion for finite-sized bundle formation as well as for macroscopic phase separation (formation of infinite bundles).

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1511.03795,
  title  = {Bundle formation in parallel aligned polymers with competing interactions},
  author = {Sandipan Dutta and P. Benetatos and Y. S. Jho},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1511.03795},
  year   = {2016}
}

Comments

accepted for publication in Europhys Lett

R2 v1 2026-06-22T11:43:19.273Z