Berlin 2008 – scientific programme
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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik
DY 18: Soft matter
DY 18.6: Talk
Wednesday, February 27, 2008, 15:30–15:45, MA 001
Ground-state properties of thick flexible polymers — •Thomas Vogel1, Thomas Neuhaus2, Michael Bachmann1, and Wolfhard Janke1 — 1Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Leipzig, PF 100 920, 04009 Leipzig — 2John von Neumann Institute for Computing, Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425 Jülich
We investigate ground-state properties of a simple model for flexible polymers, where the steric influence of monomeric side-chains is effectively introduced by a thickness constraint [1]. Thickness is defined via the global radius of curvature [2]. From parallel tempering and flat-histogram computer simulations, we find a strong thickness dependence of the conformational topology of the ground-state structures. A systematic analysis for short polymers allows for a thickness-dependent classification of the dominant ground-state topologies. It turns out that helical structures, strands, rings, and coils are natural, intrinsic geometries of such linelike objects.
[1] T. Neuhaus, O. Zimmermann, and U.H.E. Hansmann, Phys. Rev. E 75, 051803 (2007).
[2] O. Gonzalez and J. Maddocks, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96, 4769 (1999).