Bimodality in the transverse fluctuations of a grafted semiflexible polymer and the diffusion-convection analogue: An effective-medium approach

Benetatos, P.; Munk, Tobias und Frey, Erwin (September 2005): Bimodality in the transverse fluctuations of a grafted semiflexible polymer and the diffusion-convection analogue: An effective-medium approach. In: Physical Review E, Bd. 72, Nr. 3: 030801-1

Abstract

Recent Monte Carlo simulations of a grafted semiflexible polymer in 1+1 dimensions have revealed a pronounced bimodal structure in the probability distribution of the transverse (bending) fluctuations of the free end, when the total contour length is of the order of the persistence length G. Lattanzi , Phys. Rev E 69, 021801 (2004)]. In this paper, we show that the emergence of bimodality is related to a similar behavior observed when a random walker is driven in the transverse direction by a certain type of shear flow. We adapt an effective-medium argument, which was first introduced in the context of the sheared random-walk problem E. Ben-Naim , Phys. Rev. A 45, 7207 (1992)], in order to obtain a simple analytic approximation of the probability distribution of the free-end fluctuations. We show that this approximation captures the bimodality and most of the qualitative features of the free-end fluctuations. We also predict that relaxing the local inextensibility constraint of the wormlike chain could lead to the disappearence of bimodality.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Publikationsform: Publisher's Version
• Fakultät: Physik
• Themengebiete: 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik > 530 Physik
• ISSN: 1539-3755
• Ort: ONE PHYSICS ELLIPSE, COLLEGE PK, MD 20740-3844 USA
• Sprache: Englisch