Squeezed Helical Elastica

TL;DR

This paper provides a theoretical analysis of the conformations of confined helical filaments, revealing diverse shapes and a novel quasi-particle interaction framework that aids in understanding their material properties.

Contribution

It introduces a new theoretical model describing the conformations of confined helical filaments as interactions of conformational quasi-particles.

Findings

Diverse shapes like circles, waves, and spirals depend on material parameters.

Conformations can be explained via elastic interactions of quasi-particles.

Results can help determine material parameters experimentally.

Abstract

We theoretically study the conformations of a helical semi-flexible filament confined to a flat surface. This squeezed helix exhibits a variety of unexpected shapes resembling circles, waves or spirals depending on the material parameters. We explore the conformation space in detail and show that the shapes can be understood as the mutual elastic interaction of conformational quasi-particles. Our theoretical results are potentially useful to determine the material parameters of such helical filaments in an experimental setting.