Title :

Theory and Monte Carlo simulations for the stretching of flexible and semiflexible single polymer chains under external fields

Author(s) :

Manca, F. [Auteur]
Giordano, S. [Auteur]
Institut d’Électronique, de Microélectronique et de Nanotechnologie - UMR 8520 [IEMN]
Palla, Pier Luca [Auteur]
Cleri, Fabrizio [Auteur]
Colombo, L. [Auteur]

Journal title :

Journal of Chemical Physics

Pages :

244907-1-12

Publisher :

American Institute of Physics

Publication date :

2012-12

ISSN :

0021-9606

English keyword(s) :

Polymer chemistry
Monte Carlo methods
Elastic stiffness
Statistical models
K-alpha
Statistical thermodynamics
Deoxyribonucleic acid
Polymer flows
Musical instruments
Classical statistical mechanics

HAL domain(s) :

Sciences de l'ingénieur [physics]

English abstract : [en]

Recent developments of microscopic mechanical experiments allow the manipulation of individual polymer molecules in two main ways: uniform stretching by external forces and non-uniform stretching by external fields. Many ...
Show more >Recent developments of microscopic mechanical experiments allow the manipulation of individual polymer molecules in two main ways: uniform stretching by external forces and non-uniform stretching by external fields. Many results can be thereby obtained for specific kinds of polymers and specific geometries. In this work, we describe the non-uniform stretching of a single, non-branched polymer molecule by an external field (e.g., fluid in uniform motion, or uniform electric field) by a universal physical framework, which leads to general conclusions on different types of polymers. We derive analytical results both for the freely-jointed chain and the worm-like chain models based on classical statistical mechanics. Moreover, we provide a Monte Carlo numerical analysis of the mechanical properties of flexible and semiflexible polymers anchored at one end. The simulations confirm the analytical achievements, and moreover allow to study the situations where the theory cannot provide explicit and useful results. In all cases, we evaluate the average conformation of the polymer and its fluctuation statistics as a function of the chain length, bending rigidity, and field strength.Show less >

Language :

Anglais

Peer reviewed article :

Oui

Audience :

Non spécifiée

Popular science :

Non

Collections :

• Institut d'Électronique, de Microélectronique et de Nanotechnologie (IEMN) - UMR 8520

Source :

Harvested from HAL