Scaling laws during collapse of a homopolymer: Lattice versus off-lattice

TL;DR

This study compares lattice and off-lattice models of homopolymer collapse, revealing universal aging behavior but differing cluster growth exponents, advancing understanding of polymer collapse dynamics.

Contribution

It provides a comparative analysis of collapse kinetics in lattice and off-lattice homopolymer models, highlighting universal aging properties and model-dependent scaling laws.

Findings

Cluster growth exponents differ between models.

Aging and autocorrelation scaling are universal.

Collapse time scaling is temperature-independent.

Abstract

We present comparative results from simulations of a lattice and an off-lattice model of a homopolymer, in the context of kinetics of the collapse transition. Scaling laws related to the collapse time, cluster coarsening and aging behavior are compared. Although in both models the cluster growth is independent of temperature, the related exponents turn out to be different. Conversely, the aging and associated scaling properties are found to be universal, with the nonequilibrium autocorrelation exponent obeying a recently derived bound.