Related papers: Stiffness of polymer chains
Synthetic copolymers and biopolymers, such as polypeptides and double-stranded DNA, often exhibit strong variations in bending stiffness along their contour, which can significantly impact conformational behavior at larger scales. To…
A functional integral formalism is used to derive the extension of a stiff chain subject to an external force. The force versus extension curves are calculated using a meanfield approach in which the hard constraint $u^2(s)=1$ is replaced…
The wormlike chain model of stiff polymers is a nonlinear $\sigma$-model in one spacetime dimension in which the ends are fluctuating freely. This causes important differences with respect to the presently available theory which exists only…
We study the static properties of a semiflexible polymer exposed to a quenched random environment by means of computer simulations. The polymer is modeled as two-dimensional Heisenberg chain. For the random environment we consider hard…
Polymers in a turbulent flow are stretched out by the fluctuating velocity gradient; the stationary probability distribution function (p.d.f.) of extensions $R$ has a power-law tail with an exponent that increases with the Weissenberg…
The aim of this paper is to investigate the distribution of a continuous polymer in the presence of an attractive finitely supported potential. The most intricate behavior can be observed if we simultaneously and independently vary two…
We calculate the distribution function of the end--to--end distance of a semiflexible polymer with large bending rigidity. This quantity is directly observable in experiments on single semiflexible polymers (e.g., DNA, actin) and relevant…
Synthetic polymers have a distribution of chain lengths which can be characterized by dispersity, D. Macroscopic properties of polymers are influenced by chain mobility in the melt and manipulating D can significantly impact these…
A key assumption of polymer physics is that the random chains polymers extend in flow. Recent experimental evidence has shown that polymer chains compress in Couette flow in a manner counter to expectation. Here, scaling arguments developed…
When injected through a contraction, high molecular weight polymer solutions exhibit a sharp increase of apparent viscosity which originates from stretching polymer chains above a critical extension rate. This chain stretching can also…
Conformations of partially or fully adsorbed semiflexible polymer chains are studied varying both contour length $L$, chain stiffness, $\kappa$, and the strength of the adsorption potential over a wide range. Molecular Dynamics simulations…
We present a theory for the elasticity of cross-linked stiff polymer networks. Stiff polymers, unlike their flexible counterparts, are highly anisotropic elastic objects. Similar to mechanical beams stiff polymers easily deform in bending,…
We investigate the length distribution of self-assembled, long and stiff polymers at thermal equilibrium. Our analysis is based on calculating the partition functions of stiff polymers of variable lengths in the elastic regime. Our…
For a self-repelling polymer chain consisting of n segments we calculate the persistence length L(j,n), defined as the projection of the end-to-end vector on the direction of the j`th segment. This quantity shows some pronounced variation…
A polymer network fractures by breaking covalent bonds, but the experimentally measured strength of the polymer network is orders of magnitude lower than the strength of covalent bonds. We investigate the effect of statistical variation of…
We perform extensive molecular dynamics simulations of a charged polymer in a good solvent in the regime where the chain is collapsed. We analyze the dependence of the gyration radius $R_g $ on the reduced Bjerrum length $\ell_B$ and find…
The persistence length of macromolecules is one of their basic characteristics, describing their intrinsic local stiffness. However, it is difficult to extract this length from physical properties of the polymers, different recipes may give…
Using a transfer matrix technique, we calculate the entropy of polydisperse chains placed on a one-dimensional lattice, as a function of the density of internal and endpoint monomers. The polydispersivity is determined considering different…
Entanglement of polymer chains is ubiquitous in elastomers, gels, and biological tissues. While the effects of chain entanglement on elasticity and viscoelasticity of polymer networks have been intensively studied, it remains elusive how…
We study the conformation and dynamics of a single polymer chain that is pulled by a constant force applied at its one end with the other end free. Such a situation is relevant to the growing technology of manipulating individual…