Related papers: Fluctuation force exerted by a planar self-avoidin…
We consider directed semiflexible polymers embedded in a fluctuating surface which is governed by either surface tension or bending rigidity. The attractive interactions induced by the fluctuations of the surface reduce the rigidity of the…
We characterize the fluctuation properties of a polymer chain under external tension and the fluctuation-induced forces between two ring molecules threaded around the chain. The problem is relevant in the context of fluctuation-induced…
Shear flow is known to induce huge density fluctuations in otherwise clear and uniform polymer solutions. This effect is rooted in the elasticity of the entangled polymer network, and can span distances over a thousand chains wide. It has…
We examine whether fluctuation-induced forces can lead to stable levitation. First, we analyze a collection of classical objects at finite temperature that contain fixed and mobile charges, and show that any arrangement in space is unstable…
The entropic force exerted by the Brownian fluctuations of a grafted semiflexible polymer upon a rigid smooth wall are calculated both analytically and by Monte Carlo simulations. Such forces are thought to play an important role for…
We study the dynamics of a single polymer subject to thermal fluctuations in a linear shear flow. The polymer is modeled as a finitely extendable nonlinear elastic FENE dumbbell. Both orientation and elongation dynamics are investigated…
We develop a scaling theory to describe dynamic fluctuations of a semiflexible polymer and find several distinct regimes. We performed simulations to characterize the longitudinal and transverse dynamics; using ensemble averaging for a…
We consider forces acting on objects immersed in, or attached to, long fluctuating polymers. The confinement of the polymer by the obstacles results in polymer-mediated forces that can be repulsive (due to loss of entropy) or attractive (if…
We present results for the fluctuations of the displacement of a tracer particle on a planar lattice pulled by a step force in the presence of impenetrable, immobile obstacles. The fluctuations perpendicular to the applied force are…
Thermal fluctuations in non-equilibrium steady states generically lead to power law decay of correlations for conserved quantities. Embedded bodies which constrain fluctuations in turn experience fluctuation induced forces. We compute these…
We use scaling arguments and coarse grained Monte Carlo simulations to study the fluctuation mediated interactions between a pair of adhesion sites of a bilayer membrane and a supporting surface. We find that the potential of mean force is…
Recent experiments suggest that shear-enhanced growth of concentration fluctuations in polymer solutions is strongly influenced by solid boundaries. We analyze the dynamics of a model of a sheared polymer solution, accounting for the effect…
The characterization of the interactions between two fully flexible self-avoiding polymers is one of the classic and most important problems in polymer physics. In this paper we measure these interactions in the presence of active…
Loops undergoing thermal fluctuations are prevalent in nature. Ring-like or cross-linked polymers, cyclic macromolecules, and protein-mediated DNA loops all belong to this category. Stability of these molecules are generally described in…
The force experienced by objects embedded in a correlated medium undergoing thermal fluctuations--the so-called fluctuation--induced force--is actually itself a fluctuating quantity. We compute the corresponding probability distribution and…
The conformational properties of a semi-flexible polymer chain, anchored at one end in a uniform force field, are studied in a simple two-dimensional model. Recursion relations are derived for the partition function and then iterated…
The recently proposed fluctuation relation in unfolding forces [Phys. Rev. E ${\bf 84}$, $060101$(R) $(2011)$] is re-examined taking into account the explicit time dependence of the force distribution. The stretching of a tethered Rouse…
We directly visualize single polymers with persistence lengths ranging from $\ell_p=0.05$ to 16 $\mu$m, dissolved in the nematic phase of rod-like {\it fd} virus. Polymers with sufficiently large persistence length undergo a coil-rod…
We numerically study a two-dimensional granular gas of rigid disks where an external driving force is applied to each particle in such a way that the system is driven into a steady state by balancing the energy input and the dissipation due…
We study the fluctuation-induced, time-dependent force between two plates immersed in a fluid driven out of equilibrium mechanically by harmonic vibrations of one of the plates. Considering a simple Langevin dynamics for the fluid, we…