Dresden 2011 – scientific programme

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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik

CPP 24: Poster: Polymer Dynamics

CPP 24.2: Poster

Tuesday, March 15, 2011, 18:00–20:00, P2

Monte Carlo Studies of Semiflexible Branched Polymers — •Ganna Berezovska, Maxim Dolgushev, and Alexander Blumen — Hermann-Herder-Straße 3, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany

An important class of macromolecules are the branched polymers. Their properties depend both on their topology (in which the branching points play a fundamental role) and also on the degree of semiflexibility of their segments. While analytical investigations are possible under idealized conditions [1], numerical simulations are required under more realistic situations. Here we make use of the bond fluctuation model (BFM). While previous investigations used BFM ideas either for flexible branched structures or for semiflexible linear chains, our simulations allow to account both for branching and also for semiflexible behavior. Examplary, we apply the method to study polymers, whose topological structures correspond to the simplest pair of cospectral graphs. Such graphs are mathematically and chemically very important since they have the same Laplacian spectra although being topologically different. Hence, in a generalized Gaussian framework, flexible polymers whose structures are cospectral graphs are predicted to be indistinguishable under usual dynamical measurements. According to our new mathematical-analytical study [2], introducing semiflexibility allows to differentiate between such pairs of polymers. This is qualitatively confirmed by our simulation results [2].

[1] M. Dolgushev, A. Blumen, J. Chem. Phys. 131, 044905 (2009).

[2] M. Dolgushev, G. Berezovska, A. Blumen, J. Chem. Phys. 133, 154905 (2010).