Related papers: Statistical mechanics of columnar DNA assemblies
In mechanical manipulation experiments, a single DNA molecule overwound at constant force undergoes a discontinuous drop in extension as it buckles and forms a superhelical loop (a plectoneme). Further overwinding the DNA, we observe an…
A simple model of a circularly closed dsDNA in a poor solvent is considered as an example of a semi-flexible polymer with self-attraction. To find the ground states, the conformational energy is computed as a sum of the bending and…
The equilibrium structure of a Dinucleosome is studied using an elastic model that takes into account the force and torque balance conditions. Using the proper boundary conditions, it is found that the conformational energy of the problem…
Spontaneous self-assembly of hard convex polyhedra are known to form orientationally disordered crystalline phases, where particle orientations do not follow the same pattern as the positional arrangement of the crystal. A distinct type of…
We study numerically the mechanical stability and elasticity properties of duplex DNA molecules within the frame of a network model incorporating microscopic degrees of freedom related with the arrangement of the base pairs. We pay special…
We show that discotics, lying deep in the columnar phase, can exhibit an x-ray scattering pattern which mimics that of a somewhat unusual smectic liquid crystal. This exotic, new glassy phase of columnar liquid crystals, which we call a…
Frustrated quantum magnets may exhibit fascinating collective phenomena. The main goal of this dissertation is to provide conclusive evidence for the emergence of novel phases of matter like quantum spin liquids in local quantum spin…
Statistical mechanics determines the abundance of different arrangements of matter depending on cost-benefit balances. Its formalism and phenomenology percolate throughout biological processes and set limits to effective computation. Under…
We explore the magnetic phases in a Kondo lattice model on the geometrically frustrated Shastry-Sutherland lattice at metallic electron densities, searching for noncollinear and noncoplanar spin textures. Motivated by experimental…
The mechanical separation of the double helical DNA structure induced by forces pulling apart the two DNA strands (``unzipping'') has been the subject of recent experiments. Analytical results are obtained within various models of…
Relying on symmetry considerations appropriate for helical biopolymers such as DNA and filamentous actin, we argue that crystalline packings of mutually repulsive helical macromolecules fall principally into two categories: unfrustrated…
We analyze the phase diagram of an elementary statistical lattice model of classical, discrete, spin variables, with nearest-neighbor ferro-magnetic isotropic interactions in competition with chiral interactions along an axis. At the…
Within a simple elastic theory, we study the elongation versus force characteristics of a supercoiled DNA molecule at thermal equilibrium in the regime of small supercoiling. The partition function is mapped to the path integral…
For short DNA molecules in crowded environments, we evaluate macroscopic parameters such as the average end-to-end distance and the twist conformation by tuning the strength of the site specific confinement driven by the crowders. The…
We study a spin system with two- and four-spin exchange interactions on the triangular lattice, which is a possible model for the nuclear magnetism of solid $^3$He layers. It is found that a novel spin structure with scalar chiral order…
A simple model of DNA based on two interacting polymers has been used to study the unzipping of a double stranded DNA subjected to a periodic force. We propose a dynamical transition, where without changing the physiological condition, it…
Active loop extrusion - the process of formation of dynamically growing chromatin loops due to the motor activity of DNA-binding protein complexes - is firmly established mechanism responsible for chromatin spatial organization at different…
The sequence-dependent structural variability and conformational dynamics of DNA play pivotal roles in many biological milieus, such as in the site-specific binding of transcription factors to target regulatory elements. To better…
The magnetic phases induced by the interplay between disorder acting only on particles with a given spin projection ("spin-dependent disorder") and a local repulsive interaction is explored. To this end the magnetic ground state phase…
Chirality-induced spin selectivity is a spin-splitting phenomenon from a helical structure with a considerably effective spin-orbit coupling. This unexpectedly large spin-splitting phenomenon has been experimentally observed in chiral…