Formation of helical states in wormlike polymer chains
Statistical Mechanics
2009-10-31 v1
Abstract
We propose a potential for wormlike polymer chains which can be used to model the low-temperature conformational structures. We successfully reproduced helix ground states up to 6.5 helical loops, using the multicanonical Monte Carlo simulation method. We demonstrate that the coil-helix transition involves four distinct phases: coil(gaslike), collapsed globular(liquidlike), and two helical phases I and II (both solidlike). The helix I phase is characterized by a helical structure with dangling loose ends, and the helix II phase corresponds to a near perfect helix ordering in the entire crystallized chain.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/9804178,
title = {Formation of helical states in wormlike polymer chains},
author = {Josh P. Kemp and Zheng Yu Chen},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/9804178},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
5 pages, 2 figures, Submitted to PRL