7,259 research outputs found
Hysteresis and nonequilibrium work theorem for DNA unzipping
We study by using Monte Carlo simulations the hysteresis in unzipping and
rezipping of a double stranded DNA (dsDNA) by pulling its strands in opposite
directions in the fixed force ensemble. The force is increased, at a constant
rate from an initial value to some maximum value that lies above
the phase boundary and then decreased back again to . We observed
hysteresis during a complete cycle of unzipping and rezipping. We obtained
probability distributions of work performed over a cycle of unzipping and
rezipping for various pulling rates. The mean of the distribution is found to
be close (the difference being within 10%, except for very fast pulling) to the
area of the hysteresis loop. We extract the equilibrium force versus separation
isotherm by using the work theorem on repeated non-equilibrium force
measurements. Our method is capable of reproducing the equilibrium and the
non-equilibrium force-separation isotherms for the spontaneous rezipping of
dsDNA.Comment: 8 figures, Final version to appear in Physical Review
Kinetic Regimes and Cross-Over Times in Many-Particle Reacting Systems
We study kinetics of single species reactions ("A+A -> 0") for general local
reactivity Q and dynamical exponent z (rms displacement x_t ~ t^{1/z}.) For
small molecules z=2, whilst z=4,8 for certain polymer systems. For dimensions d
above the critical value d_c=z, kinetics are always mean field (MF). Below d_c,
the density n_t initially follows MF decay, n_0 - n_t ~ n_0^2 Q t. A 2-body
diffusion-controlled regime follows for strongly reactive systems (Q>Qstar ~
n_0^{(z-d)/d}) with n_0 - n_t ~ n_0^2 x_t^d. For Q<Qstar, MF kinetics persist,
with n_t ~ 1/Qt. In all cases n_t ~ 1/x_t^d at the longest times. Our analysis
avoids decoupling approximations by instead postulating weak physically
motivated bounds on correlation functions.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure, uses bulk2.sty, minor changes, submitted to
Europhysics Letter
A non-monotonic constitutive model is not necessary to obtain shear banding phenomena in entangled polymer solutions
In 1975 Doi and Edwards predicted that entangled polymer melts and solutions
can have a constitutive instability, signified by a decreasing stress for shear
rates greater than the inverse of the reptation time. Experiments did not
support this, and more sophisticated theories incorporated Marrucci's idea
(1996) of removing constraints by advection; this produced a monotonically
increasing stress and thus stable constitutive behavior. Recent experiments
have suggested that entangled polymer solutions may possess a constitutive
instability after all, and have led some workers to question the validity of
existing constitutive models. In this Letter we use a simple modern
constitutive model for entangled polymers, the non-stretching Rolie-Poly model
with an added solvent viscosity, and show that (1) instability and shear
banding is captured within this simple class of models; (2) shear banding
phenomena is observable for weakly stable fluids in flow geometries that impose
a sufficiently inhomogeneous total shear stress; (3) transient phenomena can
possess inhomogeneities that resemble shear banding, even for weakly stable
fluids. Many of these results are model-independent.Comment: 5 figure
On the origin of the unusual behavior in the stretching of single-stranded DNA
Force extension curves (FECs), which quantify the response of a variety of
biomolecules subject to mechanical force (), are often quantitatively fit
using worm-like chain (WLC) or freely-jointed chain (FJC) models. These models
predict that the chain extension, , normalized by the contour length
increases linearly at small and at high forces scale as where = 0.5 for WLC and unity for FJC. In contrast,
experiments on ssDNA show that over a range of and ionic concentration,
scales as , which cannot be explained using WLC or FJC models.
Using theory and simulations we show that this unusual behavior in FEC in ssDNA
is due to sequence-independent polyelectrolyte effects. We show that the arises because in the absence of force the tangent correlation function,
quantifying chain persistence, decays algebraically on length scales on the
order of the Debye length. Our theory, which is most appropriate for monovalent
salts, quantitatively fits the experimental data and further predicts that such
a regime is not discernible in double stranded DNA.Comment: Accepted for publication in JC
Directional motion of forced polymer chains with hydrodynamic interaction
We study the propulsion of a one-dimensional (1D) polymer chain under
sinusoidal external forces in the overdamped (low Reynolds number) regime. We
show that, when hydrodynamical interactions are included, the polymer presents
directional motion which depends on the phase differences of the external force
applied along the chain. Moreover, the velocity shows a maximum as a function
of the frequency. We discuss the relevance of all these results in light of
recent nanotechnology experiments.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure
Boundary Condition of Polyelectrolyte Adsorption
The modification of the boundary condition for polyelectrolyte adsorption on
charged surface with short-ranged interaction is investigated under two
regimes. For weakly charged Gaussian polymer in which the short-ranged
attraction dominates, the boundary condition is the same as that of the neutral
polymer adsorption. For highly charged polymer (compressed state) in which the
electrostatic interaction dominates, the linear relationship (electrostatic
boundary condition) between the surface monomer density and the surface charge
density needs to be modified.Comment: 4 page
The A+B -> 0 annihilation reaction in a quenched random velocity field
Using field-theoretic renormalization group methods the long-time behaviour
of the A+B -> 0 annihilation reaction with equal initial densities n_A(0) =
n_B(0) = n_0 in a quenched random velocity field is studied. At every point (x,
y) of a d-dimensional system the velocity v is parallel or antiparallel to the
x-axis and depends on the coordinates perpendicular to the flow. Assuming that
v(y) have zero mean and short-range correlations in the y-direction we show
that the densities decay asymptotically as n(t) ~ A n_0^(1/2) t^(-(d+3)/8) for
d<3. The universal amplitude A is calculated at first order in \epsilon = 3-d.Comment: 19 pages, LaTeX using IOP-macros, 5 eps-figures. It is shown that the
amplitude of the density is universal, i.e. independent of the reaction rat
Path integrals for stiff polymers applied to membrane physics
Path integrals similar to those describing stiff polymers arise in the
Helfrich model for membranes. We show how these types of path integrals can be
evaluated and apply our results to study the thermodynamics of a minority
stripe phase in a bulk membrane. The fluctuation induced contribution to the
line tension between the stripe and the bulk phase is computed, as well as the
effective interaction between the two phases in the tensionless case where the
two phases have differing bending rigidities.Comment: 11 pages RevTex, 4 figure
A Laplace Transform Method for Molecular Mass Distribution Calculation from Rheometric Data
Polydisperse linear polymer melts can be microscopically described by the
tube model and fractal reptation dynamics, while on the macroscopic side the
generalized Maxwell model is capable of correctly displaying most of the
rheological behavior. In this paper, a Laplace transform method is derived and
different macroscopic starting points for molecular mass distribution
calculation are compared to a classical light scattering evaluation. The
underlying assumptions comprise the modern understanding on polymer dynamics in
entangled systems but can be stated in a mathematically generalized way. The
resulting method is very easy to use due to its mathematical structure and it
is capable of calculating multimodal molecular mass distributions of linear
polymer melts
Classification of graph C*-algebras with no more than four primitive ideals
We describe the status quo of the classification problem of graph C*-algebras
with four primitive ideals or less
- …