Unwinding Relaxation Dynamics of Polymers

作者:Walter J C*; Baiesi M; Barkema G T; Carlon E
来源:Physical Review Letters, 2013, 110(6): 068301.
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.068301

摘要

The relaxation dynamics of a polymer wound around a fixed obstacle constitutes a fundamental instance of polymer with twist and torque, and it is also of relevance for DNA denaturation dynamics. We investigate it by simulations and Langevin equation analysis. The latter predicts a relaxation time scaling as a power of the polymer length times a logarithmic correction related to the equilibrium fluctuations of the winding angle. The numerical data support this result and show that at short times the winding angle decreases as a power law. This is also in agreement with the Langevin equation provided a winding-dependent friction is used, suggesting that such reduced description of the system captures the basic features of the problem. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.068301

  • 出版日期2013-2-4