Related papers: Conformational Collapse of Surface-Bound Helical F…
We investigate the effect of knot type on the properties of a ring polymer confined to a slit. For relatively wide slits, the more complex the knot, the more the force exerted by the polymer on the walls is decreased compared to an…
We have performed multicanonical chain-growth simulations of a polymer interacting with an adsorbing surface. The polymer, which is not explicitly anchored at the surface, experiences a hierarchy of phase transitions between conformations…
The molecular mechanism of slip at the interface between polymer melts and weakly attractive smooth surfaces is investigated using molecular dynamics simulations. In agreement with our previous studies on slip flow of shear-thinning fluids,…
We study the Brownian dynamics of flexible and semiflexible polymer chains densely grafted on a flat substrate, upon rapid quenching of the system when the quality of solvent becomes poor and chains attempt collapse into a globular state.…
In this paper we initiate a program of rigorous analytical investigation of the paradoxical buckling behavior of circular cylindrical shells under axial compression. This is done by the development and systematic application of general…
The intermittent transition between slow growth and rapid shrinkage in polymeric assemblies is termed dynamic instability, a feature observed in a variety of biochemically distinct assemblies including microtubules, actin and their…
The dynamics of filaments in flow are central to understanding a wide range of biological and soft-matter systems, yet their behavior under time-dependent forcing remains poorly understood. Here, we investigate the long-time dynamics of…
The collapse and swelling behavior of a generic homopolymer is studied using implicit-solvent, explicit-cosolvent Langevin dynamics computer simulations for varying interaction strengths. The systematic investigation reveals that polymer…
Anisotropic pair breaking close to surfaces favors the chiral A phase of the superfluid $^3$He over the time-reversal invariant B phase. Confining the superfluid $^3$He into a cavity of height $D$ of the order of the Cooper pair size…
One long-lasting puzzle in amorphous solids is shear localization, where local plastic deformation involves cooperative particle rearrangements in small regions of a few inter-particle distances, self-organizing into shear bands and…
With the aim of understanding failure modes in the peeling of silicone-based adhesive joints and, in particular, the occurrence of adhesive or cohesive failure, an experimental campaign has been conducted by considering plastic substrates…
A statistical mechanical description of flexible and semi-flexible polymer chains in a poor solvent is developed in the constant force and constant distance ensembles. We predict the existence of many intermediate states at low temperatures…
Curvature and mechanics are intimately connected for thin materials, and this coupling between geometry and physical properties is readily seen in folded structures from intestinal villi and pollen grains, to wrinkled membranes and…
We present theoretical and experimental results probing the rich topological structure of arbitrarily disordered finite tight binding Hamiltonians with chiral symmetry. We extend the known classification by considering the topological…
Topological constraints (TCs) between polymers determine the behaviour of complex fluids such as creams, oils and plastics. Most of the polymer solutions used every day life employ linear chains; their behaviour is accurately captured by…
Many charged polymers, including nucleic acids, are locally stiff. Their bending rigidity -- quantified by the persistence length --, depends crucially on Coulombic features, such as the ionic strength of the solution which offers a…
The shear rate dependence of the slip length in thin polymer films confined between atomically flat surfaces is investigated by molecular dynamics simulations. The polymer melt is described by the bead-spring model of linear flexible…
Generic interactions e.g. the Coulomb or other long ranged radially symmetric repulsive interactions between monomers of bead-spring model of a semi-flexible polymer induce instabilities in a initially straight polymer chain to form long…
Dry granular materials such as sand, gravel, pills, or agricultural grains, can become rigid when compressed or sheared. At low density, one can distort the shape of a container of granular material without encountering any resistance.…
We study the dynamics and patterning of polar contractile filaments on the surface of a cylindrical cell using active hydrodynamic equations that incorporate couplings between curvature and filament orientation. Cables and rings…