Related papers: Origin of Unusually High Rigidity in Selected Heli…
We study the elasticity of a two-dimensional random network of rigid rods (``Mikado model''). The essential features incorporated into the model are the anisotropic elasticity of the rods and the random geometry of the network. We show that…
Using positional data from video-microscopy of a two-dimensional colloidal system and from simulations of hard discs we determine the wave-vector-dependent normal mode spring constants in the supercooled fluid and glassy state,…
We argue that nucleation of brittle cracks in initially flawless soft elastic solids is preceded by a nonlinear elastic instability, which cannot be captured without accounting for geometrical precise description of finite elastic…
Mechanical and elastic properties of materials are among the most fundamental quantities for many engineering and industrial applications. Here, we present a formulation that is efficient and accurate for calculating the elastic and bending…
The origin of recently observed spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking in polar fluids is an unsolved problem, and poses fundamental questions as to how heliconical structures emerge in systems composed of achiral molecules. We report on the…
In a three-dimensional strong topological insulator, gapless helical surface states appear everywhere on its surface. In the presence of a screw dislocation, gapless helical modes also appear in the vicinity of the corresponding dislocation…
We present a novel, self-consistent and robust theoretical model to investigate elastic interactions between topological defects in liquid crystal shells. Accounting for the non-concentric nature of the shell in a simple manner, we are able…
We perform Monte Carlo simulations to study the elastic properties of the helix-coil worm-like chain model of alpha-helical polypeptides. In this model the secondary structure enters as a scalar (Ising like) variable that controls the local…
Helically coiled filaments are a frequent motif in nature. In situations commonly encountered in experiments coiled helices are squeezed flat onto two dimensional surfaces. Under such 2-D confinement helices form "squeelices" - peculiar…
The equations for strands of rigid charge configurations interacting nonlocally are formulated on the special Euclidean group, SE(3), which naturally generates helical conformations. Helical stationary shapes are found by minimizing the…
$\alpha$-helices stand out as common and relatively invariant secondary structural elements of proteins. However, $\alpha$-helices are not rigid bodies and their deformations can be significant in protein function ({\it e.g.} coiled coils).…
We present the general theory of Ising transitions in isotropic elastic media with vanishing thermal expansion. By constructing a minimal model with appropriate spin-lattice couplings, we show that in two dimensions near a continuous…
A new model is proposed to explain coiling of myelins composed of fluid bilayers. This model allows the constituent bilayer cylinders of a myelin to be non-coaxial and the bilayer lateral tension to vary from bilayer to bilayer. The…
Permeative flows, known for the explanation of the anomalous viscosity (10^5 Poise) in cholesterics at low shear rates, are still under debate due to the difficulty of experiments. Here we use the Surface Force Balance, in which uniform…
The conformations of semiflexible (bio)polymers are studied in flow through geometrically structured microchannels. Using mesoscale hydrodynamics simulations, we show that the polymer undergoes a rod-to-helix transition as it moves from the…
Non-Euclidean plates are a subset of the class of elastic bodies having no stress-free configuration. Such bodies exhibit residual stress when relaxed from all external constraints, and may assume complicated equilibrium shapes even in the…
Computer simulations suggest that ultrathin metal wires should develop exotic, non-crystalline stable atomic structures, once their diameter decreases below a critical size of the order of a few atomic spacings. The new structures, whose…
Periodic structures can be engineered to exhibit unique properties observed at symmetry points, such as zero group velocity, Dirac cones and saddle points; identifying these, and the nature of the associated modes, from a direct reading of…
We study the two-filament insulin fibril's structure by incorporating recent simulation results and mechanical measurements. Our investigation suggests that the persistence length measurement correlates well with the previously proposed…
We summarize the present status of the theories of spin fluctuations in dealing with the anomalous or non-Fermi liquid behavior and unconventional superconductivity in strongly correlated electron systems around their magnetic instabilities…