Related papers: Semiflexible polymers in a random environment
We develop a renormalized continuum field theory for a directed polymer interacting with a random medium and a single extended defect. The renormalization group is based on the operator algebra of the pinning potential; it has novel…
Dimerization and subsequent aggregation of polymers and biopolymers often occur under nonequilibrium conditions. When the initial state of the polymer is not collapsed or the final folded native state, the dynamics of dimerization can…
Localized deformation patterns are a common motif in morphogenesis and are increasingly finding widespread applications in materials science, for instance as memory devices. Here we describe the emergence of spatially localized deformations…
We investigate with numerical simulations the molecular origin of viscosity in melts of flexible and semiflexible oligomer rings in comparison to corresponding systems with linear chains. The strong increase of viscosity with ring stiffness…
Polymer fibers consist of macromolecules oriented along the fiber axis. Better alignment of chains leads to an increased strength of the fiber. It is believed that the key factor preventing formation of a perfectly oriented fiber is…
Using computer simulations, we show that the localized low frequency normal modes of a configuration in a supercooled liquid are strongly correlated with the irreversible structural reorganization of the particles within that configuration.…
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…
We study the dynamics of an ideal polymer chain in a crowded, viscoelastic medium and in the presence of active forces. The motion of the centre of mass and of individual monomers is calculated. On time scales that are comparable to the…
The effect of an electric field on conduction in a disordered system is an old but largely unsolved problem. Experiments cover an wide variety of systems - amorphous/doped semiconductors, conducting polymers, organic crystals, manganites,…
We formulate and characterize a model to describe the dynamics of semiflexible polymers in the presence of activity due to motor proteins attached irreversibly to a substrate, and a transverse pulling force acting on one end of the…
We propose a simple phenomenological model for describing the conformational dynamics of biopolymers via the nonlinearity-induced buckling and collapse (i.e. coiling up) instabilities. Taking into account the coupling between the internal…
We study a partially disordered one-dimensional system with interacting particles. Concretely, we impose a disorder potential to only every other site, followed by a clean site. Our numerical analysis of eigenstate properties is based on…
We present a self-consistent theory of Anderson localization that yields a simple algorithm to obtain \emph{typical local density of states} as an order parameter, thereby reproducing the essential features of a phase-diagram of…
Disorder plays a crucial role in many systems particularly in solid state physics. However, the disorder in a particular system can usually not be chosen or controlled. We show that the unique control available for ultracold atomic gases…
We consider directed semiflexible polymers embedded in a fluctuating surface which is governed by either surface tension or bending rigidity. The attractive interactions induced by the fluctuations of the surface reduce the rigidity of the…
A brief review of our recent studies aiming at a better understanding of the scaling behaviour of polymers in disordered environments is given. The main emphasis is on a simple generic model where the polymers are represented by…
The folding transition of biopolymers from the coil to compact structures has attracted wide research interest in the past and is well studied in polymer physics. Recent seminal works on DNA in confined devices have shown that these long…
A coarse-graining strategy for dilute and semi-dilute solutions of interacting polymers, and of colloid polymer mixtures is briefly described. Monomer degrees of freedom are traced out to derive an effective, state dependent pair potential…
Quantum particles in a disordered potential, photons or classical waves in a random medium, or the universe expansion in a fluctuating cosmic field, all share Anderson localization as a communality. In general, localization is enhanced for…
We simulate entangled linear polymers in free-standing thin film geometries where the confining dimension is on the same scale or smaller than the bulk chain dimensions. We compare both film-averaged and layer-resolved, spatially…