Length-dependent residence time of contacts in simple polymeric models

Area of Science:

• Polymer Physics
• Theoretical Chemistry
• Computational Biology

Background:

• Experimental studies indicate that the duration of contact between biopolymer ends is influenced by polymer length.
• Understanding polymer contact dynamics is crucial for various biological processes and material science applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To theoretically investigate the kinetics of contact breaking in simple polymer models.
• To analyze the length dependence of polymer end-to-end contact residence time.
• To compare theoretical predictions with molecular dynamics simulation results.

Main Methods:

• Solving Kramers equation for ideal and end-attracting polymer chains.
• Performing molecular dynamics simulations to validate theoretical models.
• Analyzing the power-law dependence of mean residence time on polymer length.

Main Results:

• Mean residence time exhibits a power-law dependence on polymer length with an exponent of -1.
• Residence time is shorter when analyzed from a single trajectory compared to independent conformations.
• Under strong interaction and short range, residence time approaches Arrhenius behavior, independent of length.

Conclusions:

• The study provides theoretical expressions for mean residence time, applicable even when contact definition is ambiguous.
• Findings offer valuable insights for interpreting data from microscopy experiments involving polymer contacts.
• The length-dependent nature of polymer contact kinetics is theoretically elucidated.