Related papers: Ring Polymers: Threadings, Knot Electrophoresis an…
The looping of polymers such as DNA is a fundamental process in the molecular biology of living cells, whose interior is characterised by a high degree of molecular crowding. We here investigate in detail the looping dynamics of flexible…
By means of computer simulations and solution of the equations of the Mode Coupling Theory (MCT), we investigate the role of the intramolecular barriers on several dynamic aspects of non-entangled polymers. The investigated dynamic range…
We investigate the statistical mechanics of a torsionally constrained polymer. The polymer is modeled as a fluctuating rod with bend stiffness A kT and twist stiffness C kT. In such a model, thermal bend fluctuations couple geometrically to…
Soft matter systems are common in nature and make up nearly all the essential components necessary for life, from cells to the organelles within those cells. The ability of these soft materials to deform is crucial for the proper…
The phase behaviour of a single large semiflexible polymer immersed in a suspension of spherical particles is studied. All interactions are simple excluded volume interactions and the diameter of the spherical particles is an order of…
The discovery of the quantum spin Hall effect and topological insulators more than a decade ago has revolutionized modern condensed matter physics. Today, the field of topological states of matter is one of the most active and fruitful…
The classical rheological theories of entangled polymeric liquids are built upon two pillars: Gaussian statistics of entanglement strands and the assumption that the stress arises exclusively from the change of intramolecular configuration…
We explore the effect of Couette flow on knotted linear polymer chains with extensive Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations. Hydrodynamic interactions are accounted for by means of Multi-Particle Collision Dynamics (MPCD). The polymer chain,…
Circuit topology refers to the arrangement of interactions between objects belonging to a linearly ordered object set. Linearly ordered set of objects are common in nature and occur in a wide range of applications in economics, computer…
Conjugated polymers are soft, one-dimensional conductors that admit complex interactions between their polymeric, conformational degrees of freedom and their electronic ones. The presence of extended electronic states along their backbone…
Scaffold proteins organize cellular processes by bringing signaling molecules into interaction, sometimes by forming large signalosomes. Several of these scaffolds are known to polymerize. Their assemblies should therefore not be understood…
We study theoretically a model system of a transient network of microemulsion droplets connected by telechelic polymers and explain recent experimental findings. Despite the absence of any specific interactions between either the droplets…
We study two cross-linked polymer systems in the strong stretching regime. The first consists of two polymers sharing one endpoint, with the other two endpoints coupled by a harmonic potential. Within the weakly bending approximation, we…
We numerically study a mesoscopic system consisting of magnetic nanorings in the presence of thermal magnetization fluctuations. We find the formation of dipolar-field-mediated ``bonds" promoting the formation of annuli clusters, where the…
Stochastic simulations are used to characterize the knotting distributions of random ring polymers confined in spheres of various radii. The approach is based on the use of multiple Markov chains and reweighting techniques, combined with…
Mixing theoretical topological structures with cutting-edge simulation methods, a recent study in Nature Communications has finally confirmed the existence of topological defects in glasses and their crucial role for plasticity.
We have connected the dynamic fragility, namely the rapidity of the relaxation time increase upon temperature reduction, to the excess entropy and heat capacity of a large number of glass-forming polymers. The connection was obtained in a…
A current focus in studies of the glass transition is the role of dynamic heterogeneities. Although these efforts may clarify the origin of the spectacular change in properties of liquids approaching vitrification, we point out that a…
We analyze the universal size characteristics of flexible ring polymers in solutions in presence of structural obstacles (impurities) in d dimensions. One encounters such situations when considering polymers in gels, colloidal solutions,…
It is nontrivial whether the average size of a ring polymer should become smaller or larger under a topological constraint. Making use of some knot invariants, we evaluate numerically the mean square radius of gyration for ring polymers…