Activity-induced collapse and reexpansion of rigid polymers.
Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys
; 90(6): 062312, 2014 Dec.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-25615098
ABSTRACT
We study the elastic properties of a rigid filament in a bath of self-propelled particles. We find that while fully flexible filaments swell monotonically upon increasing the strength of the propelling force, rigid filaments soften for moderate activities, collapse into metastable hairpins for intermediate strengths, and eventually reexpand when the strength of the activity of the surrounding fluid is large. This collapse and reexpansion of the filament with the bath activity is reminiscent of the behavior observed in polyelectrolytes in the presence of different concentrations of multivalent salt.
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Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Language:
En
Journal:
Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys
Journal subject:
BIOFISICA
/
FISIOLOGIA
Year:
2014
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country: