2001/12/31 by B. Schnurr, Bernhard Schnurr, F. Gittes +1 · 6 citations
Chemical Engineering · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Force Microscopy Techniques and Applications #Material Dynamics and Properties #Rheology and Fluid Dynamics Studies #cond-mat.soft #physics.bio-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreve.65.061904
published as Physical Review E 65, 061904 (2002) · 14 pages, 16 figures (.eps), REVTeX4; shortened manuscript, removed 2 figures and tables
arxiv created 2002/03/17 · openalex publication_date 2002/06/14 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Motivated by results from an earlier Brownian dynamics simulation for the collapse of a single, stiff polymer in a poor solvent [B. Schnurr, F. C. MacKintosh, and D. R. M. Williams, Europhys. Lett. 51, 279 (2000)] we calculate the conformational energies of the intermediate (racquet) states suggested by the simulations. In the absence of thermal fluctuations (at zero temperature) the annealed shapes of these intermediates are well-defined in certain limits, with their major structural elements given by a particular case of Euler's elastica. In appropriate units, a diagram emerges that displays the relative stability of all states, tori, and racquets. We conclude that, in marked contrast to the collapse of flexible polymers, the condensation of semiflexible or stiff polymers generically proceeds via a cascade through metastable intermediates, the racquets, towards a ground state, the torus or ring, as seen in the dynamical simulations.