Related papers: Ring polymers in confined geometries
Diffusion properties of a self-avoiding polymer embedded in regularly distributed obstacles with spacing a=20 and confined in two dimensions is studied numerically using the extended bond fluctuation method which we have developed recently.…
We show that the problem of describing the conformations of a semiflexible polymer confined to a channel can be mapped onto an exactly solvable model in the so-called extended de Gennes regime. This regime (where the polymer is neither…
Topological entanglements in polymers are mimicked by sliding rings (slip-links) which enforce pair contacts between monomers. We study the force-extension curve for linear polymers in which slip-links create additional loops of variable…
Large-scale Monte Carlo simulations of a phase-separating colloid-polymer mixture are performed and compared to recent experiments. The approach is based on effective interaction potentials in which the central monomers of self-avoiding…
Ring, or cyclic, polymers have unique properties compared to linear polymers, due to their topologically closed structure that has no beginning or end. Experimental measurements on molecular ring polymers are challenging due to their…
Some recent work pointed out the usefulness of taking a large-deviation perspective when trying to extract anything resembling a macroscopic order parameter from a computer simulation. In this paper we note that the end-to-end distance of…
The statistical mechanics of a linear non-interacting polymer chain with a large number of monomers is considered with fixed angular momentum. The radius of gyration for a linear polymer is derived exactly by functional integration. This…
Entangled polymers are an important class of materials for their toughness, processability, and functionalizability. However, physically detailed modeling of highly entangled polymers can prove challenging, especially as one considers…
Extensive molecular simulations are applied to characterize the equilibrium dynamics, entanglement topology, and nonlinear extensional rheology of symmetric ring-linear polymer blends with systematically varied ring fraction $\phi_R$.…
Understanding how entanglements affect the behaviour of polymeric complex fluids is an open challenge in many fields. To elucidate the nature and consequence of entanglements in dense polymer solutions, we propose a novel method: a…
We investigate, using numerical simulations, the conformations of isolated active ring polymers. We find that the their behaviour depends crucially on their size: short rings ($N \lesssim$ 100) are swelled whereas longer rings ($N \gtrsim$…
We report simulation results on melts of entangled linear polymers confined in a free-standing thin film. We study how the geometric constraints imposed by the confinement alter the entanglement state of the system compared to the…
Effective interactions inherently encompass many-body effects that appear unified. Analyzing these in reverse, that is, separating them into contributions from pairs, triples, or larger groups, is typically intricate and seldom pursued.…
We consider anisotropic colloidal particles immersed in a solution of long, flexible, and nonadsorbing polymers. For the dumbbell shapes of recently synthesized particles consisting of two intersecting spheres and for lens-shaped particles…
The dimensionality of a system can fundamentally impact the behaviour of interacting quantum particles. Classic examples range from the fractional quantum Hall effect to high temperature superconductivity. As a general rule, one expects…
When a colloid is mixed with a depletant such as a non-adsorbing polymer, one observes attractive effective interactions between the colloidal particles. If these particles are anisotropic, analysis of these effective interactions is…
We study the conformational properties of complex Gaussian polymers containing $f_c$ linear branches and $f_r$ closed loops, periodically tethered at $n$ branching points to either a linear polymer backbone (generalized bottlebrush…
Nano-scale confinement of polymer in cone-shaped geometries occurs in many experimental situations. A flexible polymer confined in a cone-shaped nano-channel is studied theoretically and using molecular dynamics simulations. Distribution of…
In Escherichia coli (E. coli), entropic repulsion between the two daughter DNA ring polymers under cylindrical confinement is believed to be an important factor governing chromosomal segregation. The repulsion can be enhanced by topological…
The conformational statistics of ring polymers in melts or dense solutions is strongly affected by their quenched microscopic topological state. The effect is particularly strong for non-concatenated unknotted rings, which are known to…