Rectified motion of short polymer chain that walks along a ratchet potential that coupled with spatially varying temperature

TL;DR

This study investigates how a flexible polymer chain moves along a ratchet potential with spatially varying temperature, revealing how its transport can be controlled by system parameters like elasticity and size.

Contribution

The paper provides new insights into controlling polymer transport by tuning elastic strength and size, with analytical and numerical analysis of steady state behavior.

Findings

Polymer exhibits unidirectional motion influenced by elasticity and size.

Steady state current can be controlled by elastic constant attenuation.

Stall force is independent of chain length and coupling strength.

Abstract

We explore the transport features of a single flexible polymer chain that walks on a periodic ratchet potential coupled with spatially varying temperature. At steady state the polymer exhibits a fast unidirectional motion where the intensity of its current rectification depends strongly on its elastic strength and size. Analytic and numerical analysis reveal that the steady state transport of the polymer can be controlled by attenuating the strength of the elastic constant. Furthermore, the stall force at which the chain current vanishes is independent of the chain length and coupling strength. Far from the stall force the mobility of the chain is strongly dependent on its size and flexibility. These findings show how the mobility of a polymer can be controlled by tuning system parameters, and may have novel applications for polymer transport and sorting of multicomponent systems based on their dominant parameters.