Flexible polymers and thin rods far from equilibrium: buckling dynamics

ABSTRACT

We investigate the dynamics of the classical Euler buckling instability of compressed objects such as flexible molecular chains and thin rods moving in a viscous medium. We find that flexible chains undergo a coarsening process self-similar in time. They develop a wavelike pattern whose amplitude and wavelength grow in time. We relate the buckling dynamics to phase ordering phenomena. The role of the order parameter here is played by the chain slope with respect to the straight initial chain configuration.