Search results for "statistical physics"
showing 10 items of 1402 documents
Translocation dynamics of a short polymer driven by an oscillating force
2013
Under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Microscopic verification of dynamic scaling in dilute polymer solutions: A molecular-dynamics simulation
1991
The dynamics of a single polymer chain immersed in a large number of solvent particles is studied by molecular dynamics. This is the first simulation where chain length (30, 40, and 60 monomers) and statistical accuracy are sufficient to test the predictions of the Zimm model as a result of the particle-particle interactions: The short-time diffusion constant is in good agreement with the Kirkwood prediction, and the monomer motions exhibit the expected dynamic scaling. The long-range hydrodynamic interaction requires a data analysis that explicitly includes the periodic images via Ewald sums.
Scaling concepts for polymer brushes and their test with computer simulation
2004
After a brief review of the scaling concepts for static and dynamic properties of polymer brushes in good solvents and Theta solvents, the Monte Carlo evidence is discussed. It is shown that under typical conditions the diameter of the last blob is of the order of 10-20% of the brush height, and therefore pronounced deviations from the self-consistent field predictions occur. In bad solvents, lateral microphase separation occurs leading to an irregular pattern of "dimples". Particularly interesting is the response of brushes to shear deformation, and the interaction between two interpenetrating brushes. Recent attempts to understand the resulting shear forces via molecular-dynamics simulati…
A Monte Carlo study of diffusion in "living polymers"
1996
We report the first numeric experiments on diffusion in living polymers (polymers that can break and recombine reversibly, and are characterized by an exponential molecular weight distribution). In the simulation we use a modification of the bond fluctuation model which is known to reproduce the correct Rouse dynamics of polymer chains. The diffusion coefficient D reveals a Rouse-type behaviour D ∝ 1/L, where L is the average chain length of the polydisperse system. We also find a D ∝ exp [ − V/2kBT] dependence on the bond energy V, whereas at constant temperature the diffusion coefficient turns out to be inversely proportional, D ∝ ρ−1, to the monomer density of the system ρ in agreement w…
Influence of chain stiffness on knottedness in single polymers.
2013
In the present article, we investigate and review the influence of chain stiffness on self-entanglements and knots in a single polymer chain with Monte Carlo simulations spanning good solvent, theta and globular phases. The last-named are of particular importance as a model system for DNA in viral capsids. Intriguingly, the dependence of knot occurrence and complexity with increasing stiffness is non-trivial, but can be understood with a few simple concepts outlined in the present article.
Structure of Polymers
2014
The structure and thermodynamics of polymers are discussed both with an adapted version of Flory’s regular solution theory and the concept of scaling and random walks. The salient properties of polymers like segregation and elasticity are discussed in terms of these concept. The Flory-Stockmayer theory of gelation is introduced and related to the percolation concept.
A fast Monte Carlo algorithm for studying bottle-brush polymers
2011
Obtaining reliable estimates of the statistical properties of complex macromolecules by computer simulation is a task that requires high computational effort as well as the development of highly efficient simulation algorithms. We present here an algorithm combining local moves, the pivot algorithm, and an adjustable simulation lattice box for simulating dilute systems of bottle-brush polymers with a flexible backbone and flexible side chains under good solvent conditions. Applying this algorithm to the bond fluctuation model, very precise estimates of the mean square end-to-end distances and gyration radii of the backbone and side chains are obtained, and the conformational properties of s…
Simulation of Copolymer Bottle-Brushes
2007
The structure of bottle-brush polymers with a rigid backbone and flexible side chains is studied in three dimensions, varying the grafting density, the side chain length, and the solvent quality. Some preliminary results of theoretical scaling considerations for one-component bottle-brush polymers in a good solvent are compared with Monte Carlo simulations of a simple lattice model. For the simulations a variant of the pruned-enriched Rosenbluth method (PERM) allowing for simultaneous growth of all side chains in the Monte Carlo sampling is employed. For a symmetrical binary (A,B) bottle-brush polymer, where two types (A,B) of flexible side chains are grafted with one chain end to the backb…
Simulations of phase transitions in macromolecular systems
2002
Abstract The study of phase transitions in concentrated solutions and melts of flexible or stiff polymers is a computational challenge for computer simulations, since already a single polymer coil exhibits nontrivial structure from the scale of a chemical bond (1 A) to the coil radius (100 A), and for the simulation of collective phenomena huge simulation boxes containing many polymers are required. A strategy to deal with this problem is the use of highly coarse-grained models on a lattice, such as the bond fluctuation model. Several studies employing such models will be briefly reviewed, e.g.: temperature-driven isotropic-nematic phase transition in concentrated solutions of semiflexible …
Monte-Carlo Simulation of 3-Dimensional Glassy Polymer Melts: Reptation Versus Single Monomer Dynamics
1995
A polymer melt is simulated at finite temperature by the Monte-Carlo method. We use a coarse-grained model for the polymer system, the bond-fluctuation model. Static properties of the melt can be obtained by generating configurations not with single-monomer- dynamics which moves individual monomers locally, but reptation-dynamics which allows collec- tive motion of the chains. This algorithm can produce equilibrated configurations much faster. It is demonstrated that static properties do not differ from those obtained by single-monomer- dynamics. Values of the radius of gyration, the mean square bond length and similar quantities for different temperatures and densities are presented.