Related papers: Loop formation in polymers in crowded environment
Chain-like macromolecules in solution, whether biological or synthetic, transform from an extended conformation to a compact one when temperature or other system parameters change. This collapse transition is relevant in various phenomena,…
The structural properties of a linear polymer and its evolution in time have a strong bearing on its anisotropic stress response. The mean-square bond length and mean bond angle are the critical parameters that influence the time-varying…
Using molecular dynamics simulations we examine the dynamics of a family of model polymers with varying chain length and torsional potential barriers. We focus on features of the dynamics of polymers that are seen experimentally but absent…
The statistical mechanics of a long knotted collapsed polymer is determined by a free-energy with a knot-dependent subleading term, which is linked to the length of the shortest polymer that can hold such knot. The only other parameter…
We examine how the distribution of contour lengths and the high-stretch stiffening of individual chain segments affect the macroscopic shear modulus of flexible polymer gels, using a 2D numerical model, in which polymer segments form a…
While the structure of chromatin has been studied in great detail on length scales below 30 nm, amazingly little is known about the higher-order folding motifs of chromatin in interphase. Recent experiments give evidence that the folding…
In this paper we investigate the problem of a long self-avoiding polymer chain immersed in a random medium. We find that in the limit of a very long chain and when the self-avoiding interaction is weak, the conformation of the chain…
We investigate the internal structure of a polymer during collapse from an expanded coil to a compact globule. Collapse is more probable in local regions of high curvature, so a smoothing of the fractal polymer structure occurs that…
Topological constraints can affect both equilibrium and dynamic properties of polymer systems, and can play a role in the organization of chromosomes. Despite many theoretical studies, the effects of topological constraints on the…
We obtain, using transfer matrix methods, the distribution function $P(R)$ of the end-to-end distance, the loop formation probability and force-extension relations in a model for short double-stranded DNA molecules. Accounting for the…
The conformational and electronic properties of conducting flexible random and self-avoiding walk polymer chains are under investigation. A Hamiltonian for conjugated flexible polymers is introduced and its physical consequences are…
The a.s. existence of a polymer probability in the infinite volume limit is readily obtained under general conditions of weak disorder from standard theory on multiplicative cascades or branching random walk. However, speculations in the…
The renormalized one-loop theory is a coarse-grained theory of corrections to the self-consistent field theory (SCFT) of polymer liquids, and to the random phase approximation (RPA) theory of composition fluctuations. We present predictions…
We construct a micromechanical version of an early model for topologically constrained polymers -- a 2D chain amongst point-like uncrossable obstacles -- which allows us to explicitly elucidate the role of topological forces beyond…
We study the scaling laws of diffusion in two-dimensional media with long-range correlated disorder through exact enumeration of random walks. The disordered medium is modelled by percolation clusters with correlations decaying with the…
We conducted molecular dynamics simulations to investigate chain conformations in adsorbed layers during polymer capillary imbibition. While the imbibition length adheres to the classical Lucas-Washburn equation, a notable deviation in…
This study deals with polymer looping, an important process in many chemical and biological systems. We investigate basic questions on the looping dynamics of a polymer under tension using the freely-jointed chain (FJC) model. Previous…
In this work we characterize the configurational space of a short chain of colloidal particles as function of the range of directional and heterogeneous isotropic interactions. The individual particles forming the chain are colloids…
By means of molecular dynamics simulations we investigate the formation of single-chain nanoparticles through intramolecular cross-linking of polymer chains, in the presence of their precursors acting as purely steric crowders in…
We study the dynamics of an ideal polymer chain in a crowded, viscoelastic medium and in the presence of active forces. The motion of the centre of mass and of individual monomers is calculated. On time scales that are comparable to the…