Theta-polymers in crowded media under the stretching force

TL;DR

This paper investigates how globular polymers behave under stretching in crowded environments, revealing phase coexistence and shape changes using lattice models and advanced simulation methods.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed phase diagram for globular polymers in disordered media under force, combining lattice modeling with the PERM simulation technique.

Findings

Phase diagram of collapsed-extended states constructed

Shape characteristics of polymers analyzed under stretching

Disordered environment influences polymer phase behavior

Abstract

We study the peculiarities of stretching of globular polymer macromolecules in a disordered (crowded) environment, using the model of self-attracting self-avoiding walks on site-diluted percolative lattices in space dimensions d=3. Applying the pruned-enriched Rosenbluth chain-growth method (PERM), we construct the phase diagram of collapsed-extended state coexistence when varying temperature and stretching force. The change in shape characteristics of globular polymers under stretching is analyzed as well.