Polymer Stretching by Turbulence

Abstract

The stretching of a polymer chain by a large scale chaotic flow is considered. The steady state which emerges as a balance of the turbulent stretching and anharmonic resistance of the chain is quantitatively described, i.e. the dependency on the flow parameters (Lyapunov exponent statistics) and the chain characteristics (the number of beads and the inter-bead elastic potential) is made explicit.Comment: 4 pages, no figures, Submitted to PRL November 8, 1999; resubmitted February 22, 200