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Updated: Jul 13, 2025

Synthesis of Cyclic Polymers and Characterization of Their Diffusive Motion in the Melt State at the Single Molecule Level
Published on: September 26, 2016
Polymer translocation driven by longitudinal and transversal time-dependent end-pulling forces
A Sáinz-Agost1,2, F Falo1,2, A Fiasconaro1,2,3
1Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada, Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza 50009, Spain.
Abstract:
In this article, we simulate the translocation of a semiflexible homopolymer through an extended pore, driven by both a constant and a time-dependent end-pulled force, employing a model introduced in previous studies. The time dependence is simplistically modeled as a cosine function, and we distinguish between two scenarios for the driving--longitudinal force and transversal force-depending on the relative orientation of the force, parallel or perpendicular, respectively, with respect to the pore axis. Besides some key differences between the two drivings, the mean translocation times present a large minimum region as a function of the frequency of the force that is typical of the resonant activation effect. The presence of the minimum is independent on the elastic characteristics of the polymeric chains and reveals a linear relation between the optimum mean translocation time and the corresponding period of the driving. The mean translocation times show different scaling exponents with the polymer length for different flexibilities. Lastly, we derive an analytical expression of the mean translocation time for low driving frequency, which clearly agrees with the simulations.
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