Nonlinear structures and thermodynamic instabilities in a one-dimensional lattice system
Statistical Mechanics
2007-06-17 v1 Soft Condensed Matter
Biological Physics
Abstract
The equilibrium states of the discrete Peyrard-Bishop Hamiltonian with one end fixed are computed exactly from the two-dimensional nonlinear Morse map. These exact nonlinear structures are interpreted as domain walls (DW), interpolating between bound and unbound segments of the chain. The free energy of the DWs is calculated to leading order beyond the Gaussian approximation. Thermodynamic instabilities (e.g. DNA unzipping and/or thermal denaturation) can be understood in terms of DW formation.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0411188,
title = {Nonlinear structures and thermodynamic instabilities in a one-dimensional lattice system},
author = {Nikos Theodorakopoulos and Michel Peyrard and Robert S. MacKay},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0411188},
year = {2007}
}
Comments
4 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. Lett