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Relaxation dynamics of semiflexible polymers
Y Bohbot-Raviv1, W Z Zhao, M Feingold
1Department of Materials and Interfaces, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
Physical Review Letters
|April 20, 2004
Summary
We investigated how a stretched semiflexible chain relaxes under time-dependent tension. Our model accurately predicts the chain
Area of Science:
- Biophysics
- Polymer Physics
Background:
- Semiflexible chains, like DNA, exhibit complex dynamics under tension.
- Understanding relaxation dynamics is crucial for molecular biology and materials science.
Purpose of the Study:
- To model the relaxation dynamics of a semiflexible chain under time-dependent tension.
- To provide a parameter-free prediction of end-to-end distance evolution.
Main Methods:
- Introducing a time-dependent tension to a fixed-end, bead-attached semiflexible chain.
- Self-consistently determining tension for accurate dynamic modeling.
- Focusing on the initial relaxation phase of a strongly stretched chain.
Main Results:
- Developed a model for semiflexible chain relaxation dynamics.
- Obtained evolution of end-to-end distance without free parameters.
- Achieved good agreement with experimental data from double-stranded DNA stretching.
Conclusions:
- The developed model effectively captures the relaxation behavior of semiflexible chains.
- The findings are consistent with experimental observations of DNA dynamics.
- This work offers a valuable tool for studying polymer relaxation.