Spontaneous self-wrapping in chiral active polymers
Abstract
Biological organisms often have elongated, flexible structures with some degree of chirality in their bodies or movements. In nature, these organisms frequently take advantage of self-encapsulation mechanisms that create folded configurations, changing their functionality, such as for defensive purposes. Here, we explore the role of chirality in polymeric structures composed of chiral active monomers exhibiting circular motion. Through a combination of experiments and numerical simulations, we demonstrate a spontaneous unfolding-folding transition uniquely induced by chirality, a phenomenon not observed in passive polymers. This transition is driven by a self-wrapping mechanism, resulting in dynamic polymer collapse even without attractive interactions. Our findings, based on chiral polymers made from chiral active granular particles, present new opportunities in robotic applications taking advantage of the interplay between chirality and deformability.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2410.02567,
title = {Spontaneous self-wrapping in chiral active polymers},
author = {Lorenzo Caprini and Iman Abdoli and Umberto Marini Bettolo Marconi and Hartmut Löwen},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2410.02567},
year = {2024}
}