2003/11/04 by Gianluca Lattanzi, Tobias Munk, T. Munk +1 · 2 citations
Engineering · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Adhesion, Friction, and Surface Interactions #Force Microscopy Techniques and Applications #Material Dynamics and Properties #cond-mat.soft #physics.bio-ph #physics.comp-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreve.69.021801
published as Phys. Rev. E 69, 021801 (2004) · 10 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Physical Review E
arxiv created 2003/11/04 · openalex publication_date 2004/02/09 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We study the statistical mechanics of grafted polymers of arbitrary stiffness in a two-dimensional embedding space with Monte Carlo simulations. The probability distribution function of the free end is found to be highly anisotropic and non-Gaussian for typical semiflexible polymers. The reduced distribution in the transverse direction, a Gaussian in the stiff and flexible limits, shows a double-peak structure at intermediate stiffnesses. We also explore the response to a transverse force applied at the polymer free end. We identify F-Actin as an ideal benchmark for the effects discussed.