Semiflexible Polymer Enclosed in a 3D Compact Domain

Semiflexible Polymer Enclosed in a 3D Compact Domain

Pavel Castro-Villarreal, J. E. Ramírez

The conformational states of a semiflexible polymer enclosed in a volume V:=ℓ3 are studied as stochastic realizations of paths using the stochastic curvature approach developed in [Rev. E 100, 012503 (2019)], in the regime whenever 3ℓ/ℓp>1, where ℓp is the persistence length. The cases of a semiflexible polymer enclosed in a cube and sphere are considered. In these cases, we explore the Spakowitz–Wang–type polymer shape transition, where the critical persistence length distinguishes between an oscillating and a monotonic phase at the level of the mean-square end-to-end distance. This shape transition provides evidence of a universal signature of the behavior of a semiflexible polymer confined in a compact domain.

2021

Shape transition, critical persistence length, mean-square end-to-end distance, semiflexible polymer, stochastic curvature, wormlike chain

10.3389/fphy.2021.642364

Frontiers in Physics

Frontiers Media S.A.

Physics