Dresden 2006 – wissenschaftliches Programm
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AKB: Biologische Physik
AKB 7: Biopolymers I
AKB 7.2: Vortrag
Dienstag, 28. März 2006, 10:15–10:30, ZEU 255
Polymers in Axially Symmetric Confining Geometries — •Frederik Wagner1, Gianluca Lattanzi2, and Erwin Frey1 — 1Arnold Sommerfeld Center and CeNS, Department of Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Theresienstr. 37, 80333 München, Germany — 2Department of Medical Biochemistry, Biology and Physics, TIRES-Center and INFN, Università di Bari, Piazza Giulio Cesare 11, 70124 Bari, Italy
The growing interest in understanding the constituents of the cell demands a rigorous analysis of its main structural components: polymers of different flexibilities (e.g. DNA, actin, microtubules) confined to a micrometer scale. In additon, confinement of polymers on micro- and nano-scales plays an important role in developing new devices for the visualization and manipulation of polymers. These recent advances require a careful analysis of the relevant accessible quantities and their dependence on the two main parameters of the system: the persistence length ℓp which entails the flexibility of the chain, and the Odijk deflection length ld, which provides a measure of the confinement. We developed a Monte Carlo simulation to investigate the general features of the worm-like chain model in axially confining geometries. In particular, we have studied the case of harmonic potentials, which is amenable to analytic approximations. Our simulations critically assess the approximations used in analytical calculations, extend the range of parameters and the quantities that can be compared with experimental observables, and provide a deeper insight on scaling relations, the influence of boundary conditions and the details of the confining geometry.