Related papers: A Two-Step Biopolymer Nucleation Model Shows a Non…
The nucleation process of polyethylene under quiescent and shear flow conditions are comparatively studied with all_atom molecular dynamical simulations. At both conditions, nucleation are demonstrated to be two_step processes, which,…
We investigate a set of design principles that link specific features of interparticle interactions to predictable structural and dynamic outcomes in two-dimensional self-assembly, a framework relevant to soft matter and biological…
Mathematical models are increasingly being used to understand complex biochemical systems, to analyze experimental data and make predictions about unobserved quantities. However, we rarely know how robust our conclusions are with respect to…
The influence of confinement, due to flat parallel structureless walls, on phase separation in colloid-polymer mixtures, is investigated by means of grand-canonical Monte Carlo simulations. Ultra-thin films, with thicknesses between…
Living cells display a remarkable capacity to compartmentalize their functional biochemistry. A particularly fascinating example is the cell nucleus. Exchange of macromolecules between the nucleus and the surrounding cytoplasm does not…
We study the two-dimensional two-component Coulomb gas in the canonical ensemble and at inverse temperature $\beta>2$. In this regime, the partition function diverges and the interaction needs to be cut off at a length scale $\lambda\in…
Biomolecular condensates self-assemble when proteins and nucleic acids spontaneously demix to form droplets within the crowded intracellular milieu. This simple mechanism underlies the formation of a wide variety of membraneless…
We study polymorph selection in a model of charged colloids, with a focus on the higher-order structure prior to and during nucleation. Specifically, we carry out molecular dynamics simulations of a repulsive Yukawa system with a slightly…
The steady-state nucleation rate and flux of composite nucleus at the saddle point is studied by extending the theory of binary nucleation. The Fokker-Planck equation that describes the nucleation flux is derived using the Master equation…
This work reconsiders the Becker-Doering model for nucleation under isothermal conditions in the presence of phase transitions. Based on thermodynamic principles a modified model is derived where the condensation and evaporation rates may…
A granular system confined in a quasi two-dimensional box that is vertically vibrated can transit to an absorbing state in which all particles bounce vertically in phase with the box, with no horizontal motion. In principle, this state can…
While the dynamics of polymer chains in equilibrium media is well understood by now, the polymer dynamics in active non-equilibrium environments can be very different. Here we study the dynamics of polymers in a viscous medium containing…
A linear copolymer made of two reciprocally attracting N-monomer blocks collapses to a compact phase through a novel transition, whose exponents are determined with extensive MC simulations in two and three dimensions. In the former case,…
Nanoscale and microscale confinement of biopolymers naturally occurs in cells and has been recently achieved in artificial structures designed for nanotechnological applications. Here, we present an extensive theoretical investigation of…
Nucleation is an activated process in which the system has to overcome a free energy barrier in order for a first-order phase transition between the metastable and the stable phases to take place. In the liquid-to-solid transition the…
Isomerization, i.e. the rearrangement between distinct molecular configurations, is a fundamental process in chemistry. Here we demonstrate that two-dimensional Coulomb crystals can emulate molecular isomerization and be used to…
The properties of the interface in a phase-separated solution of polymers with different degrees of polymerization and Kuhn segment lengths are calculated. The starting point is the planar interface, the profile of which is calculated in…
We study the dynamics and conformation of polymers composed by active monomers. By means of Brownian dynamics simulations we show that when the direction of the self-propulsion of each monomer is aligned with the backbone, the polymer…
The equilibrium phase behavior of a binary mixture of charged colloids and neutral, non-adsorbing polymers is studied within free-volume theory. A model mixture of charged hard-sphere macroions and ideal, coarse-grained, effective-sphere…
Cyanobacteria sequester photosynthetic enzymes into microcompartments which facilitate the conversion of carbon dioxide into sugars. Geometric similarities between these structures and self-assembling viral capsids have inspired models that…