Related papers: Two-phase stretching of molecular chains
Recently it has been shown that a two-dimensional model of self-attracting polymers based on attracting segments displays two phase transitions, a theta-like collapse between swollen polymers and a globular state and another between the…
Forced desorption of a semiflexible polymer chain on a solid substrate is theoretically investigated. The pulling force versus displacement is studied for different adsorption energy and persistence length P. It is found that the…
We study the diffusion of a linear polymer in the presence of permeable membranes without excluded volume interactions, using scaling theory and Monte Carlo simulations. We find that the average time it takes for a chain with polymerization…
We describe some recent results concerning the statistical properties of a self-interacting polymer stretched by an external force. We concentrate mainly on the cases of purely attractive or purely repulsive self-interactions, but our…
DNA bending on length scales shorter than a persistence length plays an integral role in the translation of genetic information from DNA to cellular function. Quantitative experimental studies of these biological systems have led to a…
The effect of electrostatic interactions on the stretching of DNA is investigated using a simple worm like chain model. In the limit of small force there are large conformational fluctuations which are treated using a self-consistent…
We consider a lattice model of a semiflexible homopolymer chain in a bad solvent. Beside the temperature $T$, this model is described by (i) a curvature energy $\varepsilon_h$, representing the stiffness of the chain (ii) a…
We study the stress distribution in a polymer brush material over a range of graft densities using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and theory. Flexible polymer chains are treated as beads connected by nonlinear springs governed by a…
Depletion forces play a role in the compaction and de-compation of chromosomal material in simple cells but it remains debatable whether they are sufficient to account for chromosomal collapse. We present coarse-grained molecular dynamics…
Two-dimensional monodisperse linear polymer chains are known to adopt for sufficiently large chain lengths $N$ and surface fractions $\phi$ compact configurations with fractal perimeters. We show here by means of Monte Carlo simulations of…
The symmetries of the DNA double helix require a new term in its linear response to stress: the coupling between twist and stretch. Recent experiments with torsionally-constrained single molecules give the first direct measurement of this…
Colloidal patchy particles with divalent attractive interaction can self-assemble into linear polymer chains. Their equilibrium properties in 2D and 3D are well described by Wertheim's thermodynamic perturbation theory which predicts a…
The mechanical properties of a polymeric network containing both crosslinks and sliplinks (entanglements) are studied using a multi-chain Brownian dynamics simulation. We coarse-grain at the level of chain segments connecting consecutive…
This paper presents a numerical study of the dynamics of DNA double helix breakage under the influence of external forces using the Peyrard-Bishop-Dauxois (PBD) model. The PBD model represents DNA as a chain of nonlinearly coupled…
Negatively charged DNA can be compacted by positively charged dendrimers and the degree of compaction is a delicate balance between the strength of the electrostatic interaction and the elasticity of DNA. We report various elastic…
A few experiments have reported that the time development of shear stress under fast start-up shear deformations exhibits double peaks before reaching the steady state for bimodal blends of entangled linear polymers in specific conditions.…
We study the structural and dynamical behaviors of a diblock copolymer chain in a bath of active Brownian particles (ABPs) by extensive Brownian dynamics simulation in a two-dimensional model system. Specifically, the A block of chain is…
By means of extensive replica-exchange simulations of generic coarse-grained models for helical polymers, we systematically investigate the structural transitions into all possible helical phases for flexible and semiflexible elastic…
We suggest a theoretical description of the force-induced translocation dynamics of a polymer chain through a nanopore. Our consideration is based on the tensile (Pincus) blob picture of a pulled chain and the notion of propagating front of…
The rupture of double-stranded DNA under stress is a key process in biophysics and nanotechnology. In this article we consider the shear-induced rupture of short DNA duplexes, a system that has been given new importance by recently designed…