Related papers: Non-Equilibrium Living Polymers
Biological systems commonly combine intrinsically out-of-equilibrium active components with passive polymeric inclusions to produce unique material properties. To explore these composite systems, idealized models - such as polymers in…
The past two decades have seen a remarkable progress in the development of synthetic colloidal agents which are capable of creating directed motion in an unbiased environment at the microscale. These self-propelling particles are often…
Many models for the origin of life have focused on understanding how evolution can drive the refinement of a preexisting enzyme, such as the evolution of efficient replicase activity. Here we present a model for what was, arguably, an even…
The applicability of computational models to the biological world is an active topic of debate. We argue that a useful path forward results from abandoning hard boundaries between categories and adopting an observer-dependent, pragmatic…
Life uses non-equilibrium mechanisms to create ordered structures not attainable at equilibrium; the resulting order is assumed to provide functional benefits that outweigh costs of time and energy needed by these mechanisms. Here, we show…
Active polymers are ubiquitous in nature, and often kicked by persistent noises that break detailed balance. In order to capture the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of such active polymers, we propose a simple yet reliable analytical framework…
We perform numerical simulations of isolated, partially active polymers, driven out-of-equilibrium by a fraction of their monomers. We show that, if the active beads are all gathered in a contiguous block, the position of the section along…
Computing equilibrium concentrations of molecular complexes is generally analytically intractable and requires numerical approaches. In this work we focus on the polymer-monomer level, where indivisible molecules (monomers) combine to form…
Active materials capable of autonomously modulating their mechanical properties are foundational to the development of next-generation soft technologies. Here, we introduce a novel class of extensible biohybrid hydrogels powered by living…
Many microorganisms live and evolve in complex fluids. Examples include mammalian spermatozoa in cervical mucus, worms (e.g., \textit{C. elegans}) in wet soil, and bacteria (e.g., \textit{H. pylori}) in our stomach lining. Due to the…
The dynamic behavior of semi-dilute polymer solutions is governed by an interplay between solvent quality, concentration, molecular weight, and flow type. Semi-dilute solutions are characterized by large fluctuations in concentration,…
One characteristic feature of soft matter systems is their strong response to external stimuli. As a consequence they are comparatively easily driven out of their ground state and out of equilibrium, which leads to many of their fascinating…
Motivated by recent experiments showing nonlinear elasticity of in vitro networks of the biopolymer actin cross-linked with filamin, we present an effective medium theory of flexibly cross-linked stiff polymer networks. We model such…
The global increase in materials consumption calls for innovative materials, with tailored performance and multi-functionality, that are environmentally sustainable. Composites from renewable resources offer solutions to fulfil these…
High molecular weight polymer solutions have a powerful tendency to deposit adsorbed layers when exposed to even mildly attractive surfaces. The equilibrium properties of these dense interfacial layers have been extensively studied…
Selected theoretical developments in modeling of deposition of submicrometer size (submicron) particles on solid surfaces, with and without surface diffusion, of interest in colloid, polymer, and certain biological systems, are surveyed. We…
When a flexible polymer is sucked into a localized small hole, the chain can initially respond only locally and the sequential nonequilibrium processes follow in line with the propagation of the tensile force along the chain backbone. We…
We report results of extensive Dynamical Monte Carlo investigations on self-assembled Equilibrium Polymers (EP) without loops in good solvent. (This is thought to provide a good model of giant surfactant micelles.) Using a novel algorithm…
An open question in the field of non-equilibrium statistical physics is whether there exists a unique way through which non-equilibrium systems equilibrate irrespective of how far they are away from equilibrium. To answer this question we…
Inside every living cell is the cytoplasm: a fluid mixture of thousands of different macromolecules, predominantly proteins. This mixture is where most of the biochemistry occurs that enables living cells to function, and it is perhaps the…