Buckling of stiff polymer rings in weak spherical confinement

TL;DR

This study explores how semiflexible polymer rings behave under weak spherical confinement, combining analytical models and Monte Carlo simulations to understand their conformations and shape characteristics.

Contribution

It introduces an analytical framework for predicting polymer conformations under weak spherical confinement, validated by Monte Carlo simulations.

Findings

Elastic response dominates in stiff regimes.

Conformations depend on polymer flexibility.

Analytical predictions align with simulation results.

Abstract

Confinement is a versatile and well-established tool to study the properties of polymers either to understand biological processes or to develop new nano-biomaterials. We investigate the conformations of a semiflexible polymer ring in weak spherical confinement imposed by an impenetrable shell. We develop an analytic argument for the dominating polymer trajectory depending on polymer flexibility considering elastic and entropic contributions. Monte Carlo simulations are performed to assess polymer ring conformations in probability densities and by the shape measures asphericity and nature of asphericity. Comparison of the analytic argument with the mean asphericity and the mean nature of asphericity confirm our reasoning to explain polymer ring conformations in the stiff regime, where elastic response prevails.